Reformation: Rewritten
by FANFANFANFANFAN
Summary: On a mission from King Notch, Team Crafted encounters what used to be their worst enemy, as he joins them on their travels to find an ancient treasure, and quite possibly, the soul Herobrine once lost.
1. Prologue

Two brothers walked on a dimly lit cobblestone path, the pale full moon above them lighting their backs as they traveled to their village. The elder brother wore a brown shirt and tan pants, covered in dirt from the mines. His eyes were the color of dark chocolate. The younger brother walked behind the first, his steps less confident than the elder brothers. He wore a light blue shirt and dark blue pants, the clothing worn by the miners, although it was also covered in dirt. His eyes were the color of bright amber, that glowed only slightly in the night from his magic. They walked in silence, not even the sound of zombies could be heard, which was unusual. The older brother stopped walking, turning to face the younger brother with a sad look. When he opened his mouth to speak, an explosion sounded, just in front of them. The older brother ran towards the expanding fire that came after with his diamond sword drawn. The younger stood hesitantly for a second before grabbing his own iron sword and he begun following his brother.

They both stopped when they reached their home, now in shambles. Fires covered every house, and bodies littered the streets. The older brother took a step forward, stopping once again when a gigantic shadow appeared through the smoke. A large black golem lunged forward, destroying a house with one blow of its arm, and no doubt it crushed any survivor inside. It turned to the brothers, its eyes glowing from a purple to a dark red as it looked at them. It was far larger than any Iron Golem, around eight feet tall. It was hunched over slightly, its large arms bent at the sides, showing that they were far longer than the golem. It raised one of the stone arms, fire engulfing it. Before it could fire, a large white golem rammed into the black one, making it fall into another building. It looked like the black one, but it was nearly pure white, with only the forearms were dark grey. Its eyes were also glowing golden. The black golem shot the other with the fire blast meant for the brothers, sending it back. Smoke started to clear from this, showing a lot of golems fighting each other, they were nearly evenly matched. With the initial shock of seeing the fight over, the older brother ran to try and help the fallen white golem that was hit while the black golem recalculated itself, moving slowly to regain the energy lost in the blast. The older brother tried to help the white golem, who was beginning to crumble, too weak to even hold itself together; but all he tried wasn't successful. The white golem could see something within the boy and held its crumbling hand up to his head. A white light glowed from all the golems, transferring over to the boy, both their magic and lives. Before the last golem completely turned to dust, he started to disappear. He turned to his brother, calling out to him before he disappeared, leaving his diamond sword behind.

This snapped the little brother out of his shock, he couldn't completely process what had just happened, surely nothing was able to transfer their energy into something else, especially at such a large scale. He didn't realize the black golem come up behind him, and he was picked up with one of the long arms, the pressure making it hard for him to breathe. They spoke amongst themselves, but the young boy was unable to understand them. He tried to use his sword to attack, even though he was still being held, and one of the other golems stabbed its hand through his chest, tearing out his heart. It glowed a faint blue for a second before disappearing, along with the heart. The boy wasn't dead though, far from it. What they took with his heart was his very soul, the one thing that made him feel anything good. His memories of his past were also starting to slip away little by little. The ancient that held him put its own hand onto his forehead, and their dark magic transferred into him, along with a dormant curse. Engulfed in a dark shadow, he was also teleported away.

The older brother woke up in a beautiful castle, that seemed to float in the clouds on a small island, with many more circling around it. He sat up, at first unsure about what happened for a long time, then he started to slowly piece together what happened. He soon found out he could float and made his way over to an island that seemed to call to him. He sat beside the pond on it, looking into the clear water. He could see his old dimension through it, but it had changed. It showed kingdoms in constant wars, innocent people dying from hunger, and even more monsters roamed the land. He didn't know how much time has passed since he was teleported here, but it must have been a long time, he didn't recognize some of the technology that was being used. Looking into his old dimension, he wished to help everyone there, he had a feeling he must help them.

The younger brother awoke in a dreary palace, that floated on a lava sea. Monsters and mobs could be heard outside, and the occasional explosion sounded. The young boy laid there for a long time, not feeling anything, not even the need to move. After a while, he moved his hand to his chest, but he didn't feel a heartbeat. He started to wonder if he too, was a mob, and soon he could hear a dark voice in his head urging him to move. He stood, slowly moving around the dark and dusty building. He soon came across a portal that activated when he stepped near it. He could see a festival full of people having fun, celebrating their new king, and for a reason he couldn't quite place, it made his stomach churn. He thought it must be true then, he was a monster and his target were the disgustingly happy mortals. Upon that thought, his eyes went from a dark black to a blazing white as he stepped through the portal and into the world he'd forgotten.

 **Howdy! Welcome to the rewrite of Reformation, a story I begun in early 2016. There were too many** **inconsistencies** **within the old version, and I hope that this time, it'll be a bit more put together. The story may lack details at some points, and may seem fast paced, but that's just my writing style. I hope you all enjoy this new version, and if you wish to read the old version, it is still up to be read. Have a great day, and have some cookies! (::) (::) (::) (::)**


	2. A New Mission

**Sky's POV:**

I sighed as I closed the book I was reading about the history of Craftia. Another knock sounded throughout the house, and I glanced to the right, at the clock above my cluttered desk; it was about midnight. I put on my sunglasses as I walked out of the room and downstairs. I opened the front door, seeing an old friend of mine, drenched in rain. He had a scowl on his face. I smiled as he stomped inside, his boots making muddy footprints on the wood floor. He had a charred umbrella in one hand, a soggy scroll in the other. I looked out into the rain to make sure no one else was there before closing the door.

"Nice night for a walk, isn't it Seto?" I asked sarcastically, and he gave me a glare, holding up the broken and burnt umbrella.

"Why don't you get hit by lightning and then try to call it nice." He stated, sounding a little tired.

"Hey, it's a rare thing to get hit by it, call it lucky." I joked. "But in all seriousness, why are you here in the middle of the night anyways, I don't think you would've walked so long in a storm with a broken umbrella if it was just a normal visit." I stated, crossing my arms and leaning against the wall. Seto sighed, as he sat the umbrella down beside the door, his free hand smoothing down his drenched hair nervously.

"Honestly, I'm going to need everyone down here if I'm going to tell you. Can you wake them up, please?" A noise sounded from the stairs, and I turned, seeing everyone already entering the room, most of them still looking half-asleep.

"No need to wake us up, the knocking did that for you." Husky said, yawning. He wasn't human, but a rare kind of sentient species called Mudkips. He turned to Seto, a mock lecture tone in his voice. "Are you even aware of the time?"

"Of course, I know the time. Now, there is a good reason for waking you all up. Two weeks ago, an archeologist and his crew found an odd building. It is so old, they date it to before even King Notch appeared. They found this scroll under the floor near the doorway. There were many more, but they were just pages from an old book, made about five hundred years ago."

"Wait, does that mean someone placed it there five hundred years ago, and it probably originated somewhere else?" Deadlox asked, his red eyes full of curiosity, and Seto nodded.

"Based on the findings, that is exactly the case. But this is all we have, apparently there were other items that were far older than the other things in the structure, but the Squid Army stole them, so we'll never know how important those items were. But, anyways, I've been studying the language this was written in, and I've finally figured out what it said. It speaks of a powerful artifact that is even more ancient than the oldest traces of, well, anything. I took it to King Notch, and he thinks this would be a great weapon against the Squid Army, if we can find it. Which is why he sent me here because this is a mission for you."

"Are there any clues to where it is, at all?" Jason asked, and Seto nodded. Jason always wore a space suit, no one knew what he really looked like, and all of us would make jokes about him actually turning out to be an alien.

"It states that the first piece of the puzzle is in the crumbling ruins of the current immortal rulers first home, back when he was still mortal."

"Wait." Ssundee stated, suddenly looking more awake than he'd been so far. "This was made a long time ago, right? Does that mean the person who wrote it could have visions of the future that far ahead?" Ssundee had visions rather frequently, but they were never more than a few days in advance.

"I thought that was an impossibility." Deadlox chimed in. Seto shrugged.

"I don't know how they knew this, or why they chose to tell us, but chances are, they were choosing to tell us, not the squids. I asked King Notch about where that home that it spoke of was, and its located here." He handed me a map. I looked at it, the village was in a sacred forest, about a half a day walk from here.

"Well, if this is a mission, we shouldn't take our merry time, right mon ami?" Mitch asked Jerome, who nodded. Mitch was human, but Jerome was a sentient creature called a Bacca.

"Let's get ready." He agreed. Everyone went back upstairs to get their things for the mission. Before I could follow, Seto grabbed my arm, stopping me. His eyes were filled with worry.

"Be careful, wherever this mission takes you. I may not be able to see clearly into the future, like Ssundee, but I have a feeling something bad is going to happen. I feel like death is a step behind everyone's door, about to knock." That was a scary way to put it. I smiled easily, to not show him how worried his words made me.

"You may have premonitions that usually come true, but trust me, we'll be fine." My words didn't really seem to help. "You know us, we won't die easily." He only nodded, and I went to get my gear, and we got ready to go. Seto said one last thing as we left on the beginning of our mission out into the stormy night.

"Don't die."

 **Howdy! I'm so sorry for not uploading a chapter sooner, I originally planned to at least have one chapter a week, but of course, something has to happen.**

 **Guest, you asked their ages in the last chapter, and I'll be glad to tell you. Mostly all of the characters are in their twenties in this story, since I'm not good at remembering the ages of the real life version of the characters. As for Herobrine, he's technically 17, since that is when he was cursed, even though he's immortal. Notch is also in his twenties in this story, but he's also immortal, so he's actually far older than he looks if that makes sense. I'm sorry if I made it seem they were really young in the first chapter, and if I don't explain that well.**

 **I hope you all liked the chapter, and have a great day! (::)And cookies! (::)(::)(::)**


	3. The Vision

**Ssundee's POV** :

The storm started to clear not long after we begun our journey, so we were relatively dry by the time I couldn't see the beacon to Craft Central City anymore. Sky suggested we'd take a break, since there was still a few hours before the sun would rise. We stopped in the middle of four trees, that was kept mostly dry from the thick leaves above it. I sleepily walked over to a patch of grass, feeling tired. I fell onto the grass, not realizing my glasses went crooked as I almost instantly fell asleep.

Everything was a dark swirling grey for a while. Then a dark oak forest manifested itself around me. It was night, and by the way the moon was positioned in the sky, it was most likely tomorrow night. I stood up, walking down an old path in front of me, it was covered in moss, and trees grew through some parts. It came to a completely ruined village, that was old, but still showed signs of fire on the burned wood. I walked until I saw a shadowed figure in front of me, and as they turned to face me, the world turned black. I could feel a large amount of magic being used as the world changed to a rocky terrain. Fog covered much of the area, making it hard to see too far ahead of me. The soft rumbling in the ground, and the sulfuric smell in the air suggested a volcano was probably nearby. There was a guttural howl behind me, and I turned to see. The fog cleared enough for me to see seven figures fighting a giant wolf creature, although I had an odd feeling something was missing. The monster was the clearest against the fog, its skin decaying and falling off in rancid chunks as it swung at the figures. Its jaws were barely held together by a few strings of muscle, and its legs were nearly reduced to only bone and ligaments. It raised a claw, clawing someone through their chest, and by the scream, it was Jerome. I closed my eyes, trying to force the vision to go away, but I could suddenly feel a sudden hot breath on me. I looked up, seeing the creature, looking even more decayed up closely. I was confused, how could it see me? I couldn't be seen or interact at all in a vision, right? The creature raised a claw, that cut across my chest. The pain felt real, but also far away at the same time. Its deep red eyes were the last thing I saw before I woke up.

I sat up quickly, my hand going to my chest to make sure my heart was still beating. I couldn't really catch my breath, and looking around, I couldn't see anything clearly. My vision was extremely out of focus, probably from the magic that was used. I stood shakily, feeling faint as well. But then, I was tackled by a very fast blur.

Sky's POV:

I woke up from a dreamless sleep by the sound of coughing. I stood, glancing at the sky. By the look of the sun, it was probably around eight in the morning. Everyone else was also awake, focused on Ssundee. He was facing away from us, and I walked over to Husky. He and Deadlox were the only two other than me who could understand a little of his vision ability.

"Have you witnessed this happen before in a vision? Or do you think he has something wrong with his lungs?" I asked, but he only shrugged.

"He was muttering, which happens for some of his visions, but then he gasped and started coughing. This isn't how they normally go; he looks to be in actual pain." Husky explained. Ssundee stopped coughing, and I think he stopped breathing all together.

"Yeah, I've witnessed some, and he's usually dead silent, as though he isn't in his own body anymore. Also, I see your expression Sky, he hasn't stopped breathing, its just really slow." Deadlox stated from where he was in a tree. Ssundee then sat up quickly, gasping for breath. His glasses fell off, and we could see his eyes clearly for the first time. They were opened wide, his pupils unnaturally small. His eyes weren't derped, that was something his twin, Derp, had. But like him, his eyes were also a bright electric blue, with a faint hint of red around the pupil. They seemed to spark with energy each time he took a breath. His hand went to his chest, and the panic seemed to dwindle. He looked around slowly, but his eyes seemed out of focus. He didn't realize we were watching him. He stood, and I could see some blood out of the corner of his mouth. I signaled quietly for Mitch to tackle him.

 **Howdy, sorry for disappearing for awhile, I'm going to try and upload multiple chapters today. Have a great day!**


	4. Explaining Magic and Aura

Ssundee's POV:

I had the air knocked out of me as I fell hard onto the ground on my back. My vision started to clear, and I realized it was Mitch that was now sitting on my chest. I tried to move him off me, but I was still too weak. Usually, its easy to move him.

"Will you kindly get off me?" I asked, trying not to move him.

"No, I won't. You were coughing badly, and you have blood coming from your mouth. Dr. Jason is going to check you out to make sure you didn't do anything to your lungs with all that coughing." Jason kneeled beside me.

"Are you able to breathe fine at all? Any pain?" I was about to answer no, when I started to cough again. It hurt badly, and I could taste the blood in my mouth now. Before Jason could say anything else, I found the strength to shove Mitch off me, and I sat up. Jason went to his bag, grabbing some things.

"I'm fine." I told him as he came back.

"No, you aren't." He said sternly, giving me cough medicine.

"That's not going to do anything, I'm coughing up blood because-" I stopped talking when Jason suddenly stopped moving, and it appears he was looking at something, but I couldn't see past the helmet.

"Ssundee, what was that vision you had?" He pointed to my chest, and I looked down, seeing blood slowly seep through my shirt that was under my black jacket. I looked under my shirt, and there was a gash across my chest, but it was shallow. I tried not to panic.

"Trust me, it was normal at first, everything was fine. I was walking on a path, and I came across the ruins of a village, probably the ones we were headed to. There was a familiar figure standing in front of me, but I couldn't place who it was. As they turned, things started to change. The scene changed, and I could feel my magic being drained away a lot more than normal. I could see all seven of us fighting a disgustingly horrible monster. And, it killed all of us. I tried to use what magic I could control along with my aura to force the vision to end, but it didn't work. The monster then attacked me…it actually did hurt me." I couldn't believe it managed to hurt me, in a vision!

"I thought only magic could be used in visions?" Jerome said. "And what would have happened if it was all used up, it seemed like it nearly was, right?" I shook my head.

"Not really, its possible with aura's but its weak. If I use too much magic, it usually causes coughing up blood and weakness. If I use nearly all of it, it will start to feed on my aura. That will cause me to kind of loose my marbles until the magic recharges, or it will deplete my aura completely, and most likely kill me."

"Would the aura feed on the magic if that is low, and what's the difference between them anyways?" Jason asked.

"Not in my case, my magic is far stronger. If my aura gets low, it'll be the same thing as too low of magic. Both being depleted cause death either way since they're basically both life energy. As for the difference, aura is what is used by humans, sentient creatures like Bacca's and Mudkips, and most hybrids like me. It comes from the soul of a person. For instance, whenever Seto or I use our spells, we are surrounded by a color and scent. For both of us, it's purple, but do you know the differences?"

"His smell like berries and it flows around him like water, while yours is all staticky and smells of burnt wood?" Deadlox guessed, and Ssundee nodded.

"Exactly. The aura is usually a smell or color, but if you learn to control it, it gains a look as well. And all of this mirrors the type of person you are. Seto is usually calm, so his seems like water, and we all know he loves berries. Because of the influence of my magic, my aura is a little bit like static, and it gives me the ability to see someone's aura. And some rare types of aura have only one look, color, or smell, no matter who has it. These auras can only be used for certain spells, and don't really say anything about the person, they're a little bit of a mystery." I then activated my magic by itself, which flowed around me like electricity, even though it didn't have any electrical attribute, unlike my eyes. "As for magic, its something select monsters and a few different sentient species have. But even if they have magic, each type comes with certain quirks about them that make them different from others. There are also types of magic that can be gained by something, but most of those are forbidden magic. And usually, even if it's weak, magic will cause something to happen to a person's eyes, the most common is a glow, or like mine, they just spark. I usually wear my glasses because the sparking can get worse when I'm anxious or exited, and some people feel a little bit uneasy of being shocked, even though it doesn't do anything to a person if they touch it. If a person is born with both magic and aura, they're considered a hybrid. If they only have aura, even if they have two kinds of species as parents, they'll still be counted as human. An example of this is me, and my brother Derp. I have magic, so I'm a hybrid. Derp only has an aura, so he's human."

"Wow, I didn't know as much as I thought I did." Husky stated, laughing nervously. I looked behind me, suddenly feeling as though we were being watched.


	5. Stopping to Talk

Sky's POV:

I could tell we were being watched as we traveled. It was probably because we were entering Skelly Province, an area with the most ancient and sacred ground in all Craftia. For all we know, we were probably already trespassing. The people here get scared quite easily, and probably never seen a hybrid, Mudkip, or even bacca here, even though this place is really close to the capital. Although, Husky was originally from a town south of here, but its still possible these people haven't seen someone like him. I could see a village up ahead, a dark oak forest beyond it. We passed a sign that said no one could go into the forest, which may be a bad sign. We must go in there to get to King Notch's old home, we just have to do it without starting a fight. When we entered the village, we waited at the gates, and everyone there stared at us with wide eyes. I looked at everyone. Deadlox had a neutral expression but glared at the people staring at us. His arms were crossed as well. Ssundee had his sunglasses back on, and he stood still with his hands in his pockets. Even though his black jacket was buttoned up, some blood on his shirt could still be seen around the collar of it. Husky wasn't looking at any of them, instead he faced the ground. Mitch had the hood of his checkered hoodie up, and I couldn't see his face. He almost looked like a sulking teenager as he stood slightly in front of Jerome, which was probably a good idea. These people could possibly be the type that hates Bacca's, like the people in the province just beyond here. Jerome just smiled warmly at the people, but it seemed forced, he could probably hear what people were whispering. Jason's posture showed that he was ready to fight just in case. An old man walked up to us, using a wooden cane to keep himself upright.

"What brings you odd group of travelers here. We don't usually welcome quests in these sacred parts. Or are you just troublemakers looking to make a mess?" He stated simply.

"Elder, I am Sky, commander of the Sky Army, and we request permission through this forest. We are currently on a mission from King Notch and we must get there before the enemy. You can't know exactly what it is we're doing, because we don't want word to spread." The old man gave me an annoyed look.

"You are obviously not a part of an army." He spat. "No army travels in such a small group, you're not in any sort of uniform, and you are rather suspicious with this mission thing." His eyes narrowed. Are they so out of touch, they haven't heard of us?

"We are Team Crafted, the strongest fighters in Craftia. We may not look the part, but what we say is the truth." Deadlox stated. The old man scoffed.

"You are obviously just a griefer group. I am not granting you access into the forest beyond here." He started to turn away, but Husky waved his arm in front of the old man, lifting his sleeve so he could see his dragon tattoo. I couldn't tell why, but the old man took a step back, afraid.

"Y-You…" The old man seemed to recognize him, but Husky interrupted him before he could say more.

"Look, old man. We are going through whether you like it or not. If you try to attack us, we will fight back." The old man finally moved aside, letting us through, fear still in his eyes. Did he have a bad past with Mudkips?

After a few hours, Jerome whispered that he could hear someone in the trees. I guessed that we would be ambushed the second they think our guard is down. I turned to the group, speaking in a low tone of voice that they knew meant danger. "Let's take a break here."

They all nodded, and we sat down in the clearing. Jerome sat by a tree, and Mitch leaned against him, pretending to sleep. They were able to sneak their weapons behind their backs, against the tree. Jason leaned against a different one, taking another book out. The compartment where he kept his sword in the back of his suit was open. Deadlox was rummaging through his bag, claiming he was looking for something, when I knew he had a hand on his sword in there. Husky was drawing, looking completely relaxed, but I knew he had hidden daggers and knives everywhere. Ssundee sat as well, looking around and pretending to be bored. I sat as well, taking off my helmet and I started to tap on it, and hummed a little to make it look like I had my guard down as well. I saw a bow shoot through the air, and Jason stopped it with his book. I put back on my helmet with my sword in hand, ready to attack. The first person to attack went after Jason. He tried to shoot arrows at close range, which left him open to attacks. Jason easily dodged and knocked him unconscious. He had no training at all. When he woke up, we surrounded him.

"Why did you attack, and don't try again, you're far too weak to win. Sure, we didn't have permission to come here, but we aren't here to harm the ancient village in this forest." The person didn't answer me, he stayed silent. I sighed, turning away from him. "Let's go, and don't even think about following us kid. Deadlox and Jerome will be able to hear you long before you're close." We left him, and luckily, he went the opposite way.


	6. Herobrine

Deadlox's POV:

The sun was already set when we finally reached the old cobblestone path. The forest seemed quite peaceful, but it made me feel off. I had noticed the further into the forest we went, the weaker I felt. Sure, I could pass it off as feeling tired, but I still didn't like the feeling. I decided to go in the direction towards the source, away from everyone. After a few minutes of searching, I finally found the source of the feeling. It was an old crumpled golem, just a head, half a torso, and a very long arm left. I didn't know what kind of energy it was giving off, but before I could investigate further, it suddenly pulsed with a large amount of the energy before turning to dust. The uneasy feeling disappeared as well, and there was a sound almost like a scream further in the woods. Did that golem use that magic on someone just now, and since when did they use magic? I went back to the group.

"Did you guys hear that?" I asked, and they nodded.

"It sounded familiar. We should hurry in case they're hurt." We started to run to where it sounded from, and just as we could start to see the rubble of an old village, Ssundee suddenly stopped, and stood still for a few seconds. He then took a shaky step back; did he just have another vision?

"I…just saw it again. I think I know who this is, but I hope I'm wrong." He didn't elaborate, and we didn't question him about it. We carefully entered the village, greeted by buildings half burnt, half destroyed buildings stood before us. Someone wearing a black hooded cloak walked outside of one of the buildings that were still nearly standing perfectly, stepping carefully over the skeleton of someone, and moving it so it sat up. They held an old piece of paper in their hands. They stood, facing away from us as they stared at the paper, trembling. Sky had a worried look on his face, and he took a step forward, calling out to the cloaked person.

"Are you alright?" The cloaked person turned around quickly, dropping the paper they had. Two dim white eyes stared back at us, tears falling from them. I was surprised, what happened to Herobrine to make him like that? Could it have been what that golem did earlier? I thought he was going to attack, but he just took a step back.

"Team Crafted." His words were laced with guilt. He clutched his head in pain with one hand. "Why are you here?"

"We were told to come here…what happened to you?" Sky asked, and Herobrine shook his head, his eyes flashing from white to black for a second.

"I…I'll show you." Herobrine answered hesitantly, as though he didn't know what he was doing, and the whole area around us was engulfed in white. When it cleared, we were no longer in a ruined village. It was new and alive, with the villagers living peacefully. The people passed through us as though we weren't even there. A single old man though, looked rather worried, before going inside one of the buildings, the same one Herobrine just walked out of. I looked at Herobrine, who was clutching his chest as golems started to attack.

Sky's POV:

I watched the memory in silence, at least, I guess it was a memory. I saw a younger Notch and a kid show up. I saw as Notch tried to help the injured white golems, but to no avail. He was given their magic and he begun to disappear. Were they giving him their magic, so he could fight for them? Before he was completely gone, he called out to the other kid, who was completely frozen in fear.

"Herobrine!" I gasped when the young kid, who was a younger Herobrine, was picked up by the dark golems. He kept calling out to Notch, who was no longer there, but he became silent as they ripped his heart from his chest. There was a fading blue light around it, and it was teleported away, along with the young Herobrine, his eyes completely black. I turned to look at the present Herobrine as the memory faded back into reality. He was facing away from us again, holding his head in pain. I couldn't help but wonder if his sanity was slowly piecing together or breaking apart.


	7. Hunger Games

Sky's POV:

After a second, Herobrine turned back towards us again, his head facing the ground.

"I lost my Humanity and memories that day. I forgot I was human. I entered this forest on a whim, and my sanity is suddenly…fixed?" He sounded confused. "I killed my brothers people, and I didn't even realize how much I was hurting any of them, I just found it fun to end their lives." He clutched his chest again, almost as though he wanted to feel the heart that wasn't there. "I was a complete monster…" He trailed off, looking at the ruins of his old village. Notch had always told us that Herobrine never would have done what he did on his own accord, and he didn't want to fight him, but the only thing I never knew was that they were brothers. I walked towards him and put a hand on his shoulder. I realized for the first time he was actually a little shorter than me.

"You aren't a monster, you didn't do it on your own will. But we can't undo what was done in the past unfortunately. But, you can use this as a chance to change the future…This may sound stupid of me, but why don't you join Team Crafted? If they teleported your heart and soul away, doesn't it mean there's a chance we could get it back? We can search for it alongside the mission we're on." The words came out before I could register them myself. "If it wasn't possible, then why would we be here? You came on a whim, and Ssundee saw you in a vision here, and maybe it means we can save you." Herobrine stared at me with wide dim eyes, before closing them and facing away from me.

"Being so trusting is going to hurt you one day." He chuckled half-heartedly. He looked back at us, his eyes a little brighter. "Alright, I'll go with you. But, what if I lose my mind again out there?"

"We'll figure it out when we get there." Husky said. "Just hold onto whatever memory you can." Something flashed across Herobrine's face, and he picked up the paper he dropped earlier.

"I just had a feeling to find this…I don't even know why, but it's a map, could it be useful?" I looked at the paper, it seemed to be on the same type as the scroll.

"The first clue to the puzzle, you had it." Ssundee said. "I guess this encounter could've gone two ways then, either way we'd find the paper since he dropped it, but one would've been disastrous." He started to mumble to himself.

"Something tells me that if I didn't agree something bad would happen?" Herobrine guessed, and I nodded, looking back at the map.

"I says we have to go west, a hole will greet us." I was a little confused about the hole part, but at least we know where to go. "Looks like a long walk-Woah!" The forest floor suddenly seemed to give out, and I grabbed the nearest thing near me in a tight grip as everything went black for a second. I felt wind a second later and closed my eyes. Next thing I knew, I hear laughing, and someone was trying to push me off them.

"Get off, all I did was teleport us as far as I could. Can someone get him off me?" I opened my eyes to find I was hugging Herobrine. I let go of him and looked around. We were no longer in the forest, in fact, I didn't see a forest anywhere near us, it was just open plains. Hero stumbled forward slightly, and I caught him.

"Are you okay?" Jerome asked, and Herobrine shook his head.

"No, the world is spinning, give me a second." He closed his eyes, holding his head in pain.

"Your no longer insane, but you're still immortal, so chances are you'll now feel the repercussions for using far too much magic. I don't know if it'll cause you to go insane again though, so don't overdo it." Herobrine nodded.

"Could you let go of me, I think I can stand on my own." He was shaky, but he could. I still felt worried, though.

"How far did you teleport us?" I asked.

"About three fourths of the way there. It shouldn't take too long to get there now." Herobrine stated, and Jason looked at the sky and pointed at a pillar that looked faint from this far, but will no doubt get brighter as we get closer.

"Hey, there's a beacon! Looks like we'll have to go through West City!"

"Looks like it's only a few hours away." Deadlox agreed.

"How do you think the mortal- I mean, the people will react to me?" Mitch started to dig around in his bag and grabbed a red jacket with gold details around the hood and arms.

"I brought this just in case I needed a different jacket, but you can have it. It'll be a lot better than that black cloak." Herobrine put on the jacket, putting the hood up and closing his eyes.

"How is supposed to see? You can't see with your eyes closed, can you?" Husky asked.

"Of course, I can, it's a simple spell that takes very little magic, so I'll be fine." He then turned to Ssundee, his eyes open again. "I forgot earlier, how can a human have visions clear enough to know the exact location?"

"Well, Hero, I'm a hybrid of a witch and a human. I have a lot of visions."

"That's impressive, wait." He was silent for a second. "Did you just call me Hero?"

"Well, it's like a nickname." Husky answered for Ssundee. Mitch smiled evilly.

"Like yours is fish?" He asked, and then hid behind Jerome as Husky threatened Mitch while Deadlox held him back.

Herobrines POV:

I stared at Team Crafted as they goofed around as we walked through the city. I felt oddly empty, but I still tried to make a few half-hearted jokes with them. I was confused as to why they treated me like an old friend with no hesitation, why were they trusting me so easily? I was literally knocked out of my thoughts when a group of people started to push me with them away from the others. I stepped on something, causing me to teleport to a hub, great, I just accidently joined a game. The only question was which one? And why didn't I say anything to Team Crafted while I was being dragged away?

I looked around, there were too many people, and it's too late to leave the game. I caught sight of a familiar face, and walked towards them, tapping them on the shoulder to get his attention.

"Yes, how can I help you?" Captain Sparkelz asked, turning to face me with a smile on his face.

"I'm Hero, and I've kind of been separated from my group." He gave me a blank stare, his smile faltering, something wasn't right. I don't think he could see my face through the hood though.

"Where did you see them last?" He sounded skeptical.

"Well, I don't really know. It was near one of the entrances to this game." He chuckled darkly, crossing his arms. His smile turned into a sneer.

"Well, Herobrine, I'm not really sure how much I can help you here, because the game is starting." A countdown appeared, how did he know who I was?

"Wha-how!?" I basically shouted at him, and lucky for me, it didn't draw anyone's attention. They were too busy talking amongst themselves. He chuckled again, lowering his glasses. His brown eyes flashed a dark blue for a second.

"I can see the soul of someone, and you don't have one." He crossed his arms, a scowl on his face. "Now, care to tell me the truth?"

"I am telling the truth!" I stated. "I regained my sanity somehow and joined Team Crafted, no matter how crazy it sounds. They gave me the nickname Hero and-" A voice sounded through the speakers, the game was going to start in a few seconds.

"Once this game starts and names off the players, they will say your real name, not Hero." Right after he said that, we teleported.

"I kept my eyes closed as they called out the names of the people in the game, hoping mine didn't show up. I didn't want to scare anyone anymore, and this probably was going to do the opposite of that.

"…And finally, Herobrine!?" The speaker cursed a couple times, cutting off his mic. I stood where I was as everyone ran away from the center. I sighed, I've seen plenty to know that chasing after them to get them to listen won't work. Instead, I just walked away in a direction no one went, taking down my hood and opening my eyes since there was no need to hide it anymore. I knew people were probably watching me, waiting for me to kill something. If I tried to teleport out of the game, I could glitch the teleport system out, and everyone could be stuck here for a while, until rescue came to this area, no matter how unlikely it is. I saw a small hut while aimlessly walking around and stepped inside. I sat beside the door, the only thing in the bare hut was a trapdoor, and I could hear someone down there. He opened the trapdoor and froze when he saw me. He had light brown hair, and a blue shirt. It was Ssundee's friend, Crainer. This might not go well, last time I saw him, I killed him with a slow and painful death. We stared at each other for a long time, until he finally spoke.

"Aren't you g-going to kill me?" He asked, stuttering slightly. Fear was laced in every word.

"No, I won't hurt you." An odd feeling, I couldn't describe rose to my chest. "I'm sorry, I wasn't actually myself for the past millennia." Crainer gave me a confused look, the fear still in his eyes. The feeling became stronger. I still couldn't place it, nor did I know how I was feeling it with no soul. "Truth is, I was cursed a long time ago, cursed to be an immortal monster. But something happened not that long ago, and I was somehow fixed. Long story short, I'm not going to kill you, unless it's to end the game so you aren't stuck in it for hours." Crainer opened his mouth to speak, but we were suddenly teleported to death match. The only other person that was there was Captain Sparklez.

"So, how are we going to do this? Because, I know you can't die." He said as he walked over to Crainer and I.

"I have an idea. I'm just sorry in advance." I activated my magic, moving each of my hands over their hearts.

"Will this be painful?" Captain Sparkelz asked nervously, and I shook my head.

"I don't intend to make either of you feel pain, I'm sorry in advance." I could feel both of their heartbeats, both were going quick from fear. I don't judge them for being afraid, even if it is a game where you are guaranteed to respawn. I sent a wave of electricity directly into both of their hearts, killing them instantly. The game finally ended, and I was teleported back to the hub. I stood there, not knowing what to do, when someone put a hand on my shoulder. It was Captain Sparklez, and Crainer was beside him.

"That was weird, I've never died from electrocution before, but warn us next time before giving us a heart attack."

"I thought you were just going to use fire, it scared the heck out of me." Crainer added. People were giving me fearful looks, but I didn't pay attention to them.

"I'm sorry again, it was the only way to end the game." Once again, I found myself confused as to why people were acting like they instantly trust me.

"It's perfectly fine Hero." Captain Sparklez smiled. His eyes flashed blue again behind his sunglasses, and he waved goodbye. I saw Sky searching for me in the crowd, and I made my way over to him.

"I'm so sorry about that. I didn't realize the crowd would get so hectic." I said. Sky laughed lightly, motioning to all the people around us that were staring.

"That's a big city for you."


	8. Chapter 8: Hidden Room Underground

Sky's POV:

I looked at the sky as we travelled the sun was still high, and the weather was clear. All around us was mesa territory, no major cities were near this area. Right before we left West City, Hero noticed something on the paper, that none of us have noticed. He said he could see one word that stood out from the others, Trials. I looked back at the faded paper, unable to see the word. How did Seto not see it? Did it only appear because Hero looked at it? Hero teleported us closer to the area on the map to make up for lost time, but I think it messed with him a little bit. He was lagging behind, with one hand over his chest. He was doing the same thing in the city, but when I asked him about it, he only said he felt something odd. I think it has to do with the fact he doesn't have a soul anymore, but he now has a sliver of humanity. It's probably trying to make him feel human emotions, but it isn't that successful because he doesn't have a soul. I sighed as Deadlox tried to jump from a dead tree to a rock out of his reach, causing him to barely make it.

"You know, you can survive without parkouring through everything…right?" I mocked a serious tone at the end. Deadlox chuckled, but then gave me a dark glare and smile.

"Of course, I can survive without jumping from place to place. But can you resist calling gold butter?" I growled at him, taking his challenge.

"Well Deadlox, even though I have been calling g-gold that for awhile now, I can refrain from calling it something other than g…alright I can't do it! It's budder!" I clutched my budder sword to my chest, as everyone laughed, and even Hero smiled slightly.

"Careful Sky, we may have just found your weakness." Chuckled Husky. Mitch, who was already hiding partly behind Jerome decided to say something.

"Your weakness is being called fish!" Husky threw a dagger at him, only missing by a centimeter. "That or he just wants a reason to throw his knives."

"You aren't even worth wasting them on." Husky growled, before turning to Ssundee. "Anyhow, you're from this territory, right? Is there anything or is it just empty everywhere."

"Oh, its basically empty. Father has a small cottage by his farm up north a little bit, and that's about all I know that's in this area." Explained Ssundee, and Mitch opened his mouth to say something. Before he could though, Ssundee cut him off. "It was my mother who was a witch, not my father."

"How did you know I was going to ask that?" He asked.

"I could tell you were going to ask that. And before you ask where she is, she has been gone for a while now. Derp still doesn't believe me that she died. Derp may joke about a bad relationship with her, but that was far from the truth, they were really close."

"I've been wondering something for a while." Hero stated. "Why is he called Derp, is it to make fun of his eyes?" Ssundee laughed slightly, shaking his head.

"No. His real name is Ian. He choses to go by Derp." Hero nodded, and Deadlox walked a few feet ahead of us.

"You know, what if-" Deadlox was cut off from what he was saying, when the ground below him started to crack and give way, making him fall into a hole. We heard a loud crash, and I looked down in the darkness to try and see him. It must have been a little far down.

"Deadlox, are you alive down there?" I heard a faint groan.

"I'm fine. I think I hurt my leg in the fall though." That was good news. I jumped down, landing beside Deadlox. The room was mostly dark, except for the light shining from the entrance of the hole. The floor was mossy cobblestone. The terracotta walls were decorated with intricate designs, making it almost look like waves of water. The only thing that resembled a doorway, was a large arch, showing a hallway with the same design behind it. I looked through the semi -darkness at Deadlox. He seemed fine except for his leg, which was bent at an odd angle, slightly under the knee. His headphones were also knocked off his head and were laying across the floor on the other side of the room, no longer glowing. The others jumped down as well, and Hero shivered, crossing his arms as though he was cold.

"Did you guys sense-" Deadlox winced, covering his ears, and Hero quickly shut his mouth. He looked at me with a questioning look on his face. I picked up Deadlox's Headphones and handed it to him. When he put them on, they casted a slight green glow across the area as well. "I didn't know your ears were that sensitive…" Hero said, sounding both apologetic, and as though he knew something. Deadlox also seemed to realize that and laughed nervously.

"Why else would I be wearing headphones, I don't have music endlessly blasting in them. But what is it you were saying?"

"Did any of you guys sense that in the air." His eyes glowed a little brighter, and he shivered again. "There's some sort of power here, and it gives me the chills for some reason. Oh, that and we aren't in a respawn zone anymore."

"How can you tell?" Ssundee asked, and Hero gave him a 'are you kidding?' look.

"Think, what was one thing I did while insane?" He asked as though it was obvious. He then answered himself before Ssundee could speak. "I killed, permanently. I can make a place a temporary no respawn zone, but unfortunately, I can't make something into a respawn zone." He then kneeled beside Deadlox and placed his hand over the break in Deadlox's leg. "This is going to hurt, are you ready?"

"Wait, you can actually heal?" Deadlox asked. "I thought your magic just made you destroy things." Hero shook his head.

"Kind of, I taught myself some healing magic when I fought big brother. It takes a lot out of me though, because my magic wasn't made for it." He looked at the hallway, and back at us. "I'll do this quickly, I think someone's there, try to be quiet." He mumbled something, closing his eyes, and small circles appeared around his hand, and they disappeared into Deadlox's leg. His leg started to slowly straighten, and he put a hand over his mouth, so he didn't make any noise. Before his leg was completely healed, voices sounded from the hall.


	9. Invisibility

Ssundee's POV:

We all turned to the hallway, seeing two shadows come into view. "Everyone, behind me." Hero whispered, and we moved behind him. Deadlox could stand, but he winced a little when he tried to walk. "Here goes nothing." Hero chuckled nervously to himself. He spread out his arms, closing his eyes again. White symbols circled quickly around us, before stopping a few seconds later. "Whatever you do, don't make a sound or move." He whispered. I started to wonder what kind of spell he was using, but before I could ask, two squids slithered into the room. One was larger, and greyer. The smaller, bluer one, seemed hesitant.

"What happened in here?" The grey squid gurgled, and more squids joined the two. They surprisingly ignored us, and the second squid slid to the middle of the room, looking up.

"Looks like the ceiling caved in, General Gurg." The large grey squid growled under his breath.

"I can see that, but what caused it to collapse? Let's do a wide sweep of the area, this room may be empty, but you never know." The other squids saluted, sliding off into the highway. The large grey one looked around once more and turned to the blue squid.

"Sense any magic here?" The blue squid looked in our direction for a second, but then shook his head slowly.

"No, I don't sense anyone, only a small disturbance, but nothing caused by humans. Besides, it's been awhile since I've been in water, my abilities may not-" General Gurg sighed loudly.

"Listen, you come from the Southern Ocean, I expect you to work as good as the other magic scouts from that area, now come on." The two of them left. Hero let his arms fall, and the symbols disappeared. Hero was breathing heavily, his eyes dim.

"Are you okay?" Jason asked, and Hero nodded after a few seconds.

"That was the first time I used an invisibility spell." He held his head and sat down, closing his eyes. "My head really hurts."

"Invisibility is a really complex spell, my father said that he saw mother use it only once, and she was also hurting after." I said. "But if it's the first time using a spell, especially for so long, a lot of your magic must have been used." I kneeled beside him. "You have to be careful, what if you use too much?"

"I already have." Hero said, his voice flat. I was worried something was wrong, but he shook his head. "I just feel a little sick though, don't worry. My magic will replenish itself quickly."

"That was still a highly risky thing to do." Jerome scolded. Hero stood up, activating his magic again.

"What are you doing?" I asked.

"His leg isn't healed yet, I have to…" He stumbled, and I caught him.

"Looks like your magic doesn't replenish as fast anymore. I may be able to heal him the rest of the way, just tell me what to do." Hero sighed.

"Fine, just stop catching me every time I almost fall."

Sky's POV:

It took Ssundee almost an hour to figure out how to use the healing magic. It turns out, his magic wasn't really made for healing either, so it took a while. We were sitting in the room, wondering how exactly to get past the squids passing by, when a familiar voice sounded through the hall. We could only hear a small chunk of what was said as they passed down a different hall too far from the room we were in.

"Are you sure mother is trapped in here?" It was Derp! The squids were using him for something. Ssundee growled under his breath, his magic sparking around him. I put a hand on his shoulder.

"Calm down Ssundee, Deadlox do you hear what's going on?" I asked, and Deadlox took off his headphones, the green glow disappearing. We all waited in silence as he listened. After a few seconds, he gasped, mumbling something, before quickly putting on his headphones again. He tended to do that without his headphones, he barely spoke loud enough for anyone to hear.

"Ssundee, why didn't you tell us Derp could use his aura?" The sparking around Ssundee got worse.

"What do you hear?" He asked, his voice shaky.

"The squids are wanting Derp to use his aura to break something they call a Trial." I instantly thought of that word that Hero could see on the paper.

"We have to stop him!" Ssundee nearly yelled, panic in his voice. "He may have aura, but if he uses it for more than thirty seconds, he dies!"

"Why does he-" Mitch started, but Ssundee cut him off.

"No time to explain. He is easily manipulated when it comes to our mother, we must hurry. Deadlox, can you tell which direction they are?"

"Yes, just follow me."

We walked down the hallway, which even though it had no torches, was still lit. The further we went, the carvings on the walls became more intricate, and the stone became less mossy. We stayed as silent as possible, following Deadlox's directions. We soon peeked over a corner, seeing someone nearly identical to Ssundee talking to the squids. The only big difference was his clothes and his eyes, which were derped, although his sight never seemed to be impaired from it.

"So, if I break down this door, she'll be on the other side, I can prove Ssundee wrong?" Derp asked excitedly.

"Yes, and because of your relation to Ssundee, you should have strong aura as well, right?" General Gurg said and spoke again before Derp could answer. "All you have to do is break down that door." Derp looked at it for a moment. Something about him seemed to change, and he gave a sly look towards the squid, out of the corner of his eye.

"Why can't you just use tnt?"

"We've tried, it doesn't do anything." The squid said, not noticing the change in tone as well. Derp smiled, narrowing his eyes. He crossed his arms, shaking his head.

"Alright. So, you came up with the story of my mother on the other side because you couldn't break it yourself? That's all the proof I need, and besides, Ssundee warned me about you squids." He turned around, and his gaze met ours.

"What are you yapping about, boy?" General Gurg demanded. "So what if we lied, we still need the door open." Derp turned back around and put a hand on the ornate door.

"Thirty seconds." Derp said. His aura appeared around him, a bloody red violet color. The smell of baked bread filled the area. He quickly turned, waving his hand in front of the squids, red violet spikes coming out of the ground around them, trapping them. "Hurry Herobrine, burn them!" Hero activated his magic, a large wave of fire consuming the squids and burning them. Derps aura disappeared, and he fell. We ran over to him, and luckily, he was still breathing. Ssundee kneeled beside him, shaking him slightly.

"Derp, are you okay?" There was a mumble, and he opened his eyes after a few seconds.

"Hey bro. Since when was Herobrine on your team?" He chuckled tiredly.

"Since yesterday. But what was that about? How many times do I have to tell you, she died? I feel like you believed them until you saw us." Derp shook his head, sitting up.

"With eyes like this, its fun to act stupid, I knew the whole time. I knew there'd be no way she was behind there; the door looks like its been sealed for a long time. I just couldn't think of a way to get rid of the squids because of my circumstances, until I saw a familiar pair of white eyes amongst you. Besides, I'll find her someday, Ssundee." Derp said as he gave Ssundee a glare that said, 'Fight me.' Hero was looking at the two of them with a small smile. His eyes were dull though. Before anything else could be said, the door glowed, and started to open.


	10. Underlying Problems

Herobrines POV:

The door opened slowly, sliding into the ground. At first all we could see was darkness within the room, even though out here was brightly lit. Then a figure started to come into view, walking slowly. I could hear the scratching of rocks as it moved across the ground. I took a step back in surprise, it was a Light Ancient. Time hadn't been kind to it. It was missing one arm, the other covered in moss. Its face and body were full of cracks, and it moved slowly. When it spoke, its voice sounded gravelly and old.

"The foreseen heroes have finally arrived. If you wish to continue, come through this door. I was instructed to tell you that your trust will get torn and mended, you will discover things you wish to keep hidden, even from your closest companions. You will no doubt encounter death. If you don't go through, I don't blame you…but there's a chance that death will reign for every creature. Beware of the deamon who betrayed…" The Ancient stopped, and slumped over, the lights in its eyes flickering before disappearing. It started to crumble, and soon, there was nothing more left than a pile of gravel and moss. After it died, the room behind it lit up, revealing a hallway that ended with a pedestal, with a piece of paper on it. The stone floor was replaced with netherbrick, and red concrete lined the walls with wither skull heads every few feet. We started to go forward but Derp stayed on the other side.

"You all go ahead, I have my own mission to find our mother. Be safe Ssundee." He waved, turning around. He sighed and turned back around before leaving. "Maybe I'll join you when we cross paths again." Ssundee nodded, waving back to him. We continued towards the paper. It was a map. It showed a place not that far from here. Beside the place it marked out, was the word, courage. Husky picked the map up, and as soon as he did, the building around us started to tremble. I teleported us out of the room as the ceiling fell, and we appeared right beside the hole Deadlox fell in. We could see the silhouette of Derp in the distance, which meant he got out before it started to collapse.

"That was a close one Hero, are you okay?" Jerome asked, and I nodded. We didn't teleport far enough for it to drain much magic. "So, which way do we go Husky?"

"Looks like its inside the Forbidden Forest. Its not far, but, the whole forest is a no respawn zone with lots of monsters." I smiled, getting their attention.

"Well, we will be fine, I know a path through that has less mobs."

"Oh yeah, weren't you basically their king or something?" Jason asked, and Hero shook his head. "Not really, they have no ruler, but because they thought they did, they've been a bit more docile and less coordinated. No doubt, sooner or later, the mobs are going to realize I'm gone, and they will become more dangerous, and won't just walk around mindlessly until they come upon their next meal."

Sky's POV:

We headed out, and the sun started to set sooner than we expected. We made a camp right outside the forest. Deadlox didn't take long to fall asleep in a tree. I wasn't tired, so I just sat and studied the map for any secrets for a few hours, my amulet gave me enough light to see. I couldn't see anything secret on the map and looked around. Everyone was asleep, except for Hero. He was sitting away from the group, his knees up to his chest with his arms wrapped around them. He was staring at the night sky. I sat beside him.

"Aren't you tired Hero?" I asked. I was wondering if he was feeling doubts about joining us, or if he was too worried about the past he couldn't remember.

"No." He sighed quietly, still looking at the stars. His tone was distant and sad.

"Okay then, what's wrong. If anyone uses that tone of voice, something is up, and its not the sky." He gave me a half-hearted chuckle.

"What about…" He trailed off, shaking his head and looking away from me. "Never mind."

"Hero, what's bothering you?" I asked again, wanting to get an answer. He mumbled something, but I couldn't hear him. "Can you try again, I couldn't hear?" I persisted, hoping I didn't annoy him.

"What about big brother?" He looked at me again, his eyes so dim, they were nearly black. I stayed silent. I haven't thought about that, and I wondered if Notch noticed his absence yet. I finally spoke after a few seconds.

"Why are you worried about him? I'm sure he's fine, he's ruled Minecraftia for a millennia." Hero shook his head slowly.

"That isn't what I mean. I hurt him bad last time we fought, heck with every fight we've had, I've hurt him badly. What if it's too late to apologize, what if he only wants to destroy me now?"

"Why would he want to kill you? He's told me so many times that he wished he never fought with you. He did mention something about you not remembering who he was exactly, but I never realized he was your brother." I looked back at Hero, and he was now hiding his face under his hood. I could see tears falling though.

"But I hurt him…I killed every friend he tried to make, and the few he actually fell in love with. I attacked his people and burned their homes, like our home was burned. I even remember every single time I belittled him, every single time I said I hated him. Why doesn't he want to fight me after all I've done?" He paused for a second but continued. "And why am I crying? After leaving that city, an odd feeling has been tugging at my chest. I don't understand it, I only understand the negative things. I don't feel what you humans can feel without a soul." I knew he was worried about more than just his brother.

"I know we can find your soul again, I basically promised you, didn't I? And your crying is proof enough that there is humanity in you. You are at least experiencing some emotions again, and your mind was only just recently healed after so long, so I'm surprised you haven't broke down until now. If I were you, I'd do my best to fix things with my brother. When we get the chance, you need to talk to him, okay?" He nodded, yawning.

"Thank you, sky." He mumbled as he stared at the sky again, and I made my way back to my spot. I looked at the sky once more, wondering what would happen in the forest tomorrow.


	11. Waking The Bacca

Sky's POV:

I awoke from a dreamless sleep to the sun barely risen, casting a little light around the area. Hero was already awake, and he was standing in the middle of the camp with a thoughtful look on his face. I realized a bit too late what he was going to do, and he took a deep breath.

"Hero, do-" Was all I could say.

"Everyone wake up!" He yelled, using his magic to make himself sound louder. Deadlox was startled enough he fell from his tree, falling on Jason and Ssundee. Mitch sat up sleepily yawning. Husky mumbled something but stayed asleep. Jerome, though, was the one I was worried about. He jumped up quickly with a yelp, hit his head hard on a low branch of a tree, and fell, looking around, disoriented. Hero flinched, and Husky finally woke up with a confused look on his face.

"Sorry. I didn't know that would happen." He apologized, and Mitch kneeled by Jerome. Jerome tended to have very bad dreams, although we don't really know what they were about. Mitch was the only one, since they've grown up together, and all he said was that it was traumatic for Jerome. Jerome tends to lash out sometimes, when the dreams were particularly bad, and Mitch made a rule that only he could go near Jerome when this happened, after Seto had his arm torn up by Jerome's claws. While Mitch talked to Jerome, in Jerome's home language, Hero walked over to me.

"Sorry, again."

"Don't worry Hero." I sighed, "It's not your fault, we've just never told you that Jerome gets very bad nightmares, and it's almost a gamble when you wake him up. Sometimes he's perfectly fine, other times he might blindly attack. Sometimes it's something small like a cut up arm, or if you're as unlucky as Husky, multiple broken bones." I explained. Deadlox stomped over to Hero.

"Why did you do that? I am not a fan of falling off trees." He grumbled, and Ssundee called from where he was.

"Well, I'm not a fan of being a landing mat!" Jason agreed with him.

Hero shrugged, a small smile on his face. "I just wanted to wake everyone up. Besides, if you didn't want to fall, you should've slept on the ground." Jerome chuckled as he came over.

"Yeah, it's not like you're a bat, Deadlox. And I'm sorry Hero, I probably should've told you about that nightmare thing." Hero gave him a confused look.

"Why are you apologizing? I'm the one who scared you half to death and back, not to mention your head is bleeding." Jerome shook his head.

"It's just a cut. Besides, it is my fault for not telling you, since it's my problem." After a few minutes, we were ready to go again. It was surprisingly uneventful walking through the forest. Usually, there was a lot of mobs, but we didn't see one. We soon came across a hole in the ground.


	12. Explaining Illusions

Sky's POV:

We looked over the edge of the hole, once again, not seeing the bottom through the darkness.

"It's really weird how light works in these places. For all we know it doesn't go as far as it looks." Jerome said, looking through his bag.

"What're you looking for?" Mitch asked, looking over his shoulder. Jerome shrugged.

"Something to solve a theory." He pulled out an old torch and lit it. He held it over the hole. With it just above it, it still looked pitch black.

"That is freaky." Husky said. Jerome then dropped the torch, and it was as though it was sucked into a black pond, and it completely disappeared.

"What happens if we go through?" Jason asked, taking a step back. I shrugged.

"Who knows." Ssundee was quietly staring at me with a flat expression for a few seconds. "What? Do I have something on my face?" He sighed, pointing at the hole.

"Hello? Do you remember what that paper said? Courage. Which means this is just an illusion to make us uneasy. It's a simple spell." I looked at the hole again, it seemed obvious now.

"Oh." I said, "So, who wants to go first?" I turned to look at everyone when I asked, and as I did, Deadlox kicked his leg under mine so I fell backwards into the hole. Everything was black for a moment, but then I fell on something hard, hearing a crunching sound. I quickly got up, knowing it wasn't from me. It was nearly pitch black in the room, I couldn't see much, other than what my amulet showed from its glow. On the ground, where I landed, was a skeleton. Looking around, there were more, but not dropped torch. I looked up, not even seeing a hole in the ceiling. "Hey!" I yelled, not expecting them to hear me.

"Sky? Are you alright down there?" Deadlox asked.

"Yeah, what the heck was that for!" I called back. After a second, Deadlox landed beside me. His headphones added a bit more light.

"I just wanted to joke a bit. Usually you catch your balance, I didn't expect you to fall in." Everyone else jumped down into the dark room, and Jerome found another torch in his bag that lit up the room. The walls were carved to look like waves once again. In fact, it almost looked completely like the room from before, too much like it.

"Guys, do you have the feeling something is wrong?" I looked towards them, but no one was there. The torch was still lit and floating in mid-air. I took a step forward to inspect it, but for some reason, I fell forward, into darkness.

Deadlox's POV:

I called down to Sky to see if he was alright, but he didn't answer. I figured he would have caught himself instead of falling. Ssundee put his hand into the dark pit, and it seemed to disappear completely. After a second, he took his hand out, and shook his head.

"Great." He said under his breath. "This is more than just having enough courage to jump through that." He grumbled to himself, crossing his arms.

"What is it? What did I do to Sky?" I asked, starting to worry. What if he was hurt?

"It's probably either a hallucinogenic spell or an advanced illusion. Considering this illusion here, its probably the advanced illusion. Which means, in order to get the next piece of this map, we have to go through this spell."

"How do we get out of it?" Jerome asked, but Ssundee shrugged.

"I'm not good with illusion magic, I never figured it out."

"We'll, you're lucky I know it. What do you think I used to show you my memory?" Herobrine stated. Considering the type, it might be, you will start to think of it as reality as it slowly bends your mind, or if you're lucky, you'll keep your original memories intact; which makes escaping easier. You must believe that the reality around you isn't real, and you must claim this out loud without any doubt."

"That sounds hard if you forget you're even in an illusion." Jason sighed. "Any other way to get out?"

"Yes, but it's dangerous. Much like when you're nearly asleep and you get the feeling of falling. It wakes you right up, because of how much you're startled. If you get surprised enough or get hurt, it can knock you out of the spell. But this can cause you to think you're still in the illusion, and that feeling takes a few days to go away." I took a deep breath.

"Well, we aren't getting any further just talking about it." I took a step into the black water, meeting a cobblestone stair step. It wasn't a hole anymore, but a stairway. I looked above me, seeing a circular stairway stretch far above me. "Wow."


	13. Breaking Free Of Illusion

Sky's POV:

I woke up to the sound of knocking. I was in a bed, and looking around, I was in a plain white room, with only one desk in the far corner, some crutches against the wall close to me, and a table beside the bed, with my sunglasses on it. I was wearing plain white clothes, and my amulet was around my neck, although it looked older than I remember, the gem in it chipped. I put it on, along with my sunglasses, and tried to stand up. I couldn't keep my balance and fell back onto the bed. My breath caught in my chest as I saw that half of my left leg was missing. That's probably why the crutches were there. I grabbed them and stood once again.

"This must be an illusion, like the darkness in the hole. But I have my memories of reality, is it because of my amulet?" I asked myself quietly. Notch has told me about illusion spells, and how to break out of them, so it should be easy. There was another knock, but before I could ask who it was, it opened.

"Hey." Seto said quietly, entering the room. He looked older and his eyes were dull and tired. He smiled slightly when he saw me. "Looks like you're finally awake. Look, I-" I interrupted him.

"Listen. I already know what this is, and let's now waste anyone's time, alright?" I unsteadily walked up to him, I've never used crutches before. I looked him right in the eye as I spoke. "I know this isn't real, its an illusion, and I want out." The Seto smiled again.

"Do you have any doubts?" He asked, his voice distorted.

"None."

Jerome's POV:

I was in some sort of cell, shackles around my wrists and neck. I could tell by how small I was, and my tattered clothes, that I was a child again. A squid slithered into the room, and I stayed silent. I was supposed to stay silent, not move a muscle, the squids weren't the target-wait! I quickly shook my head when the squid wasn't moving. That wasn't right, I wasn't back here, I'm not here anymore, right? Didn't someone say I had to snap out of it somehow? I was knocked out of my thoughts by the squid talking to a different one.

"Status."

"Nothing to report. It hasn't lashed out at all after the target was terminated. Conditioning seems to be nearly complete." Conditioning, I remember that. They captured different creatures, injecting stuff into them that forces them to attack something. Mine was attacking humans, they were the target.

"Good." The first squid stated, slithering towards me. I wanted to move, but I knew not to. It unlatched the shackles, but I still didn't move. It grabbed my arm, and I finally moved to follow it through a maze of halls. We stopped right outside the target room. You can only see into the room through this side of the door, not on the other. There was a small boy tied to a single chair in the middle of the room. I knew who it was, and I suddenly remembered everything. I tried to break away from the squid, but it only grabbed my other arm, lifting a familiar needle with another tentacle. I closed my eyes and shouted, hoping that what I said was true, and trying my best not to doubt myself.

"Enough! This is just an illusion of the past, it isn't real!" The squid let go, and I stumbled forward. The squid spoke.

"Do you have any doubts?"

"N-No." The squid disappeared, then reappeared in front of me.

"You must be sure of your answer." I took a deep breath, glancing at the young Mitch in the room.

"This is not my reality." I said calmly as I put a hand on the door. "I know the real Mitch is safe and probably waiting for me to snap out of this, so I'm sure."

Husky's POV:

I woke up from the illusion. It was just the memory of when I thought I was going to drown as a child, before I knew I could breathe under the water. I was sitting against a wall, and everyone else was unconscious around the room as well. I stood up, looking at the room. The floor and ceiling were quartz. The walls were made of grey concrete, and there was a long hallway in one side of the room. I walked to the person closest to me, Herobrine. He nearly looked asleep, but he was mumbling slightly. Looking around, everyone almost seemed to be doing the same thing.

"Well, I'm the only one awake." I said to myself, crossing my arms. I waited for a few seconds, until I got bored. "Why the heck am I the first and only one awake?" I groaned.

Sky's POV:

I was the one of the last ones to wake up from the illusion, which seemed weird, since it didn't feel like any time at all in the illusion. Some of us, like Mitch and Jerome wouldn't say what they saw, and the rest of us just had recollections of scary times as children, except for Hero. He just saw a fight with Notch. Aside from just him, it seems like I'm the only one that had a future-based illusion. Jason was the last one to wake up. He suddenly moved, biting the back of his hand hard enough to go through his glove and cause it to bleed, but only moved again and opened his eyes a few seconds later. He stood slowly, looking around.

"Oh, thank goodness." He said. "I couldn't say it without my voice messing up and it didn't believe me." He chuckled slightly, and Hero kneeled beside him.

"Do you realize how dangerous that was? How did you even bite yourself that hard?"

"I made the gloves of my suit to be the least protected. It's quite easy to get through it. And I know how bad that could have been, but I don't feel like anything is out of place. If I start acting weird, just let me know."

After a few minutes of trying to get Jason to tell us what he saw, we decided to go down the hallway. It didn't go far, and we stopped in front of another pedestal with a map on it. There was a place marked on it, and I had an idea. Hero could see words on the first one, maybe there were words on this too. I picked up the map, and once again, the place started to crumble. Hero teleported us back to the entrance, in front of the hole that was still pitch black. It slowly closed, becoming normal ground again.

"Well that's creepy." Jerome said, walking over the place the hole just was to make sure it was gone. I handed the map I grabbed to Hero.

"See anything on this one?" I asked, and Hero nodded, but seemed a bit nervous.

"Well there are words but…can anyone read Latin?"


	14. Past Memories

Herobrines POV:

I looked closely at the yellowed map for a moment; I could recognize the language that the faded words were written in, but I didn't know how to understand what the jumbled letters were written in. I had never even bothered to learn how. I sighed in defeat from trying to decipher the words on my own, glancing up from the page. "Well, there are words…but can anyone read Latin?" I asked, unsure if anyone knew. Surprisingly, Deadlox was the one who nodded.

"I studied it for a little bit last year when we visited where Seto is from." He said as he walked over to me. He peered over my shoulder at the map, narrowing his eyes as he scanned the page. "I don't see anything, Hero." He said, crossing his arms. "Try reading it out loud and I'll try to translate it the best I can."

"I doubt you'd make sense of it, I don't know how to pronounce this," He patted my shoulder lightly, giving me an encouraging smile.

"Just give it a try. Even if you butcher the words horribly, I still may be able to understand it if it is important." I looked back at the words. I hesitated for a moment before reading.

"Sigillum antiquis magicae fatorum conteram praecepta maxime momenti et fragmen retro ante sera est." I read the words out loud the best I could, unable to make sense of them. Deadlox stayed silent for a moment, mumbling under his breath.

"Okay so, it's a little weird; doesn't seem like a clue. It just says, 'Ancient magic, sealed by fate, break the most important rules and give a piece back before it is too late." As he spoke, a faint green glow appeared around him, along with the smell of freshly cut grass. He noticed this, giving his now glowing hands a confused look. "What's this?" He said before his eyes flashed a bright green and he fell back. Sky dashed forwards to catch him before he reached the ground. Deadlox was knocked out cold, and the aura around him started to disappear. It then started to appear on the map I was holding. I quickly let go of the paper, taking a few cautious steps back. I expected it to fall, but it stayed floating in the air, as though it was still being held. The green glow then disappeared, though, the page still hung in the air.

"What just happened?" Mitch asked. Ssundee started to back up, there was now a condensed green orb floating in front of the map.

"Is it going to explode?" Jerome asked Ssundee, who only shrugged.

"I don't think so. Explosion spells don't take much magic. It looks like it's trying to store enough energy for something. It could either still be taking energy from Deadlox, or it doesn't have enough to activate." Ssundee gave a worried look towards Deadlox, who was still unconscious. "I don't see his aura activated, so it's probably the latter."

"Even though it's taken energy from an aura, would adding energy from my magic have any effect? I'd be safest if it does end up exploding." I suggested.

"Magic and aura can mix, but it's dangerous if unbalanced. Are you sure you want to try it?" Ssundee asked. I nodded, it would be any safer if I tried than if anyone else did. I walked over to the piece of paper. The green ball had grown slightly dull, most likely because the aura was starting to dissipate. I reached out my hand, my magic sparking along it. I touched the glowing orb. The ball felt like glass, something unusual. My magic traveled over it, but it wasn't drawn in. After a second, there was a sharp burning sensation, and I quickly jerked my hand away. In that second, it had burned my hand enough to leave a bloody handprint on the ball, that was slowly absorbed. That's what it was doing; it drew in my magic through my blood. Crafty. If I were to just add magic like how I tried, it could've become unstable, but to absorb it slowly through something such as blood without it being blood magic, it would keep the ball from being unstable. Either this thing is sentient, or it's a very complicated spell. The ball grew to about as big as a basketball after the blood had disappeared, turning a bright white, with wisps of green throughout, looking like misty clouds. The map started to fall, slipping through the ball, turning it a bright blue. It fell to the ground, a burn now on it, the words gone. I walked forward to grab the paper and was knocked off my feet from a blast of energy, feeling a dull pain in my chest.

 **-FLASHBACK-**

I groaned as I sat up, rubbing my chest where it hurt. My brother stood in front of me, trying to hold in his laughter behind one hand. The other was loosely holding a wooden sword. I could hear snickering behind me, where my grandfather sat on the bench.

"Wha-Why did you do that? He didn't say go." I grumbled.

"He did, didn't you hear him?" Brother asked, kneeling beside where I sat as I shook my head; I didn't hear him. He chuckled under his breath, setting the wooden sword on the ground beside him. "Okay Herobrine, what's bothering you? Usually, you're quick to dodge with your little teleportation trick." He questioned, and I shrugged, looking at the ground. After a second, I spoke, he was going to find out sooner or later.

"I got in trouble again, and this time, it was kind of bad," I said nervously as grandfather walked over to us, his cane the only thing keeping him steady. He's been weak since he'd gotten sick.

"What happened this time Herobrine." He asked, a stern tone in his voice. I knew I wouldn't be in too much trouble since I didn't hurt anyone, but I was still worried.

"All I did was try to blow my way through some stone. I didn't know that it would draw mobs to us, and I didn't know that I was blowing up a vein of Silverfish." I gave an exasperated sigh. Why would I get in trouble for that? No one can tell the difference between them and normal stone. "We were completely fine, I stopped everything from going wrong, but no, I still got in trouble! Why can't they just trust my magic?" I asked, bringing my knees to my chest. Grandfather sighed.

"You're only twelve, a lot of us adults think that it's great you inherited such power from your parents, but others still live in the past and hate hybrids…and then there is the small percent that doesn't want to trust children because of how destructive they can be." He gave me a playful glare as he said that, and I rolled my eyes. I wasn't too destructive, I think.

"Yeah, you have to follow their rules for a bit longer, until you're an adult yourself." Big brother said in a 'matter of fact' tone.

"But brother, that's so long away. I fight off monsters, I mine the most ores of the apprentices, and heck, I'm being trained by the best warrior this village has ever had!" I said, pointing to my grandfather. "I don't want to wait another six years for them to finally believe in me." Big brother smiled.

"Well, until then, you have your great brother to believe in you and believe you no matter what. That will never change." I smiled, hugging my brother.

"Do you promise?" I asked, and he nodded, hugging me back.

"I promise little brother."

 **-END OF FLASHBACK-**

I gasped awake, holding my chest as the faint feeling of pain faded away. It was right over where my heart used to be, and it was thrumming with some sort of energy that wasn't there before. It felt familiar though. I was tackled by Deadlox in a tight hug before I could try to stand up.

"Hero! Oh my gosh, I thought you were dead, you were barely breathing. How do you feel?" Deadlox asked quickly, almost in a panic. He looked pale and tired. His brown eyes still had a green tint to them, they were probably slightly damaged from the sudden influx of aura.

"Uh, I feel fine, I guess? What about you? Are your eyes okay?" He nodded.

"Yes, everything's just a little blurry." My attention was drawn towards Ssundee, who walked over to me.

"Are you sure you're fine though? The blue kind of argues against that." Blue? Did he mean the color the ball turned?

"Blue?" I stood up to walk towards the small pond that was nearby. I looked closely at the clear water, seeing my reflection. There was a faint blue glow around me. Now that I noticed this, I could also smell the familiar faint scent of vanilla. To be sure, I held out a hand in front of me, only using a sliver of its still-weak energy. A small flame appeared in my hand, with a warmth that my magic flames never held. I smiled, feeling exited. The first thing I've felt in a thousand years.

"Jerome looked at the small flame, then back at me, with worry in his eyes. "Is that…" He didn't have to finish his thought, I nodded. I knew what that thrumming in my chest was then, a piece of my soul. Then there was a sudden flash of light in front of me. My nonexistent heart stopped as I recognized who appeared. It was my big brother, his sword drawn. He was crouched slightly in a fighting stance. I couldn't see his face because he was facing away from me, but I knew he had a serious look.

"Oh! Hi Sky." Big brother said, sighing in relief as he straightened and put his sword back in its sheath. "I could swear I felt some sort of powerful energy or something near here. Did you see anything happen?" He asked, and Sky glanced past his shoulder at me, tilting his head towards my brother. I quickly shook my head, I didn't want to confront him. I was afraid of him hating me; I was afraid of the possibility that he won't forgive me for what I've done. Sky sighed, looking back towards my brother.

"You would not believe the past few days we've had." He stated. My brother chuckled, crossing his arms.

"Try me, I've seen some weird things. What happened?" He asked, and Sky glanced back at me again. Although I couldn't see his eyes, I knew they were demanding me to talk to my brother. I put a hand on my brother's shoulder, making him freeze up.

"Big brother," I said quietly. He quickly turned around to face me, jumping back and grabbing his sword in one fluid motion. He had a look of both anger and confusion on his face. I stayed where I was, silent. After a moment of silence, the anger was replaced with more confusion.

"Herobrine," Brother said in a flat tone. Everyone stayed silent, backing off slightly. They knew this was between him and I. He gave a small sigh, crossing his arms and looking at me with sad eyes. "I thought you would have made a move by now. Possibly a lightning bolt or fireball…or are you attempting a new tactic by waiting for the opportunity to attack, like a coiled snake waiting to strike its prey?" He asked bitterly. I opened my mouth to speak, but he spoke before I could, taking a step closer. "You tried that 'big brother' crap before, remember? I thought you weren't the type to use the same trick?" His voice was laced with anger, his glare seeming to be as sharp as daggers.

"Because it is not a trick," I said, taking my own step closer to him. He was caught off guard, raising his sword in case he needed to block an attack. "Look, some stuff has happened, and I'm no-WOAH!" He quickly swung his sword at me. I barely ducked in time, slipping on the muddy edge of the pond, nearly falling into the shallow water.

"Likely story, Herobrine." He spat my name. I stood straight, holding up my hands so he could see I wasn't using any magic.

"Look, brother, I don't want to hurt you." He sang the sword at me again. I teleported to the left of him, keeping my hands up. "Please listen."

"Stop playing with me." He narrowed his eyes. "I'm not a fan of games." I knew that, I was the sole purpose for that dislike. I used to make him play futile games to try and save people that still ended up dying.

"I'm not playing any games brother, you have to believe me." I quietly said, shrinking back when he suddenly started to yell. He circled around me. I didn't move.

"Why would I believe what you say? All you do is attack and destroy, laughing as you do! Why would I listen to anything that comes out of your mouth?" The tone in his voice was that of pure hatred. He swung at me again with his sword, and I teleported behind him, kicking him in the back, making him fall into the pond. I didn't mean for his head to hit a sharp rock as he fell, causing dark red to slowly stain the water. He stood after a second, a wide gash just over his right eye. A golden light surrounded him along with the smell of cinnamon as he healed himself. The look on his face meant he was done playing around.

"Oh no…I only meant to push you into the water. Y-You, know, to try and get you to listen-AH!" He had raised his hand towards me, shooting a ball of light at me. I fell to my knees as electricity ran through my body, paralyzing me. I coughed up black blood, unable to breathe. Each of his light attacks did something different, and this was the kind that almost shreds the insides of the target; it's lethal to a normal human. I stood up as soon as my body let me, jumping out of the way of another ball of light. I stumbled a bit, activating my weak aura to make a shield. It broke as soon as the magic hit, but it luckily dissipated it, so I wasn't hurt. But I was knocked off my feet from the force. Brother started walking towards me, the grip on his sword tightening as confusion was forming in his eyes. I threw a fireball at him to give myself the chance to teleport again, but he deflected it with his sword. I didn't have time to teleport and held my arm up to block my fire. Normally, I was fireproof, except when I receive a direct hit from my own magic. It burned through my forearm, causing a near bone-deep gash. Also, because this was my own magic, I couldn't heal it, it can only heal at a normal state like this. He stopped in front of me. He looked far more intimidating from the lower angle I had from where I was sitting.

"How do you have an aura?" He demanded, his own starting to look less like a light, and more like a viscous liquid, it flowed slowly around him, duller than before. I've only seen that once, during one of the said games.

"I-I told you already, didn't I? That I wasn't trying to trick you?" I tried to explain. "I went home brother, to where we grew up. I remembered the night we became what we are, and they found me. My mind was fixed, and they let me tag along. You have to teach them not to be so trusting, especially if it includes someone like me." I said, trying to have a joking tone at the end. The expression on my brother's face didn't change. I half expected him to ask them himself, but he didn't. "You still don't believe me, huh? I can see that." I stood up and took a step forward, and he didn't move. His grip on his sword loosened slightly. "I don't remember much, I'm sorry. I don't remember when you started to train as a warrior. I don't remember our grandfather's name, nor anyone else's from the village. I don't remember anything really. But there is something I do remember." I said. I teleported right in front of him, hugging him before he could react. "What happened to my brother? What happened to how it used to be, the miner apprentice that disobeyed every rule and the second-best warrior in the village who followed those rules to a T. What happened to believing in me and believing me, no matter what?" His eyes went wide in surprise, dropping his sword. His aura disappeared. I let go of him. "I'm sorry, I didn't want to guilt-trip you. But you have a really bad problem with not listening."

"Herobrine." He had tears in his eyes. "For all these years…you truly were under the control of something bad?"

"No." I had to be honest. "I forgot everything, and that molded me into something horrible. I thought I was a monster. I can't have the excuse of not being in control. It was still my own choice. I don't think I even want you to, but are you able to forgive me?"

"Little brother, I'm sorry. My trust in you was broken again and again with every fight and with every trick. Trust can take years to build, seconds to break…" He paused, for a second. "And it can take forever to mend. I'm the king of Craftia, I must protect the ones I love and rule over. So, no matter how much I want to, I can't forgive you." I gave him a small smile.

"Then, it's a good thing we're immortal," I said. He gave me another confused look. "I will make myself known, as who I actually am. No more hiding. Some will be fine with me, like them." I motioned towards my friends. "Others though, won't be. But I will work to the point that everyone can forgive me, everyone. Then, I'll spend my time making up for what I've done to you. Even if it takes another thousand years if that's what it'll take." I spoke with as much conviction as I could. My brother gave a small smile, shaking his head.

"I haven't seen you so set on doing something since before Lenia died." A sudden memory surfaced, catching me off-guard.

 **-SECOND FLASHBACK-**

I was sitting in a chair, leaning against a hospital bed that had my best friend asleep in it. We were the same age of only eight. She had long white hair and magenta eyes. The doctor said that her albino genes were what was killing her, but her mother has the same affliction, but she's fine. I sighed, as I held Lenia's hand as she slept. I remembered when we had first met, although not clearly, we were only three. I had wandered off from my brother in the park and came across a small birthday party. It was her birthday, not long before she wasn't allowed to walk anymore. She had worn a princess dress, that became the inspiration for my nickname for her. We were close friends, and I carried her wherever she wanted to go, so she wasn't stuck in a hospital. I was knocked out of my thoughts when Lenia woke up with a coughing fit. Each cough scared me, the doctor said the force of the coughs could stop her fragile heart. I didn't like the doctor, he'd leave a dying girl alone with a kid, not smart in my opinion. I moved to sit beside her on the bed, patting her back lightly until the coughing subsided.

"Hey, Herobrine?" She asked, her voice hoarse from the coughing. Her normally cheery tone was replaced with something more serious. "Will you promise me something?"

"What is it, princess?" I asked.

"I know you keep denying it, but you need to accept it, I can't be here much too longer." I looked away from her, she was right, I didn't want to believe that she was inevitably going to die. "Promise me you won't forget me, or what I taught you." She said, sounding years more mature than what she was. She held out her hand, a small blue flame appearing. Her bright orange aura always glowed strong and unwavering, much like her spirit, and smelled of the rare Kadupul flowers she loved to visit. I would sneak into the hospital and teleport us there in the night to see when they bloomed. I held out my own hand beside hers, a red flame appearing. My aura wasn't made for fire, but she taught it to me nonetheless.

"I promise, my princess. How could I forget you?" I gave her a smile, which she returned. Suddenly tired, she leaned against me to keep herself up. "Princess?" I asked, concerned.

"Then, can you promise me something else?" She asked, her hand resting on the locket she always kept around her neck. She took it off and handed it to me. "Don't tell my parents why, but can you put some of my ashes into that locket?" I was confused. "I mean, can you bury my locket with a piece of me by those flowers we always go to? My parents just want to bury me in the boring graveyard. I'd rather be somewhere with happy memories." I didn't like the tone of her voice. She started drifting off to sleep.

"W-Wait! Why are you suddenly talking like this?" I asked, gently shaking her awake. She looked at me with tired eyes.

"I know I won't wake up if I fall asleep, the doctor made sure of it…I asked him." I instantly thought back to the juice she drank just a few minutes before the doctor left.

"What?"

"Oh Herobrine, if it wasn't for you, this moment would have happened long ago. My body keeps getting weaker as time passes…I don't want to become someone who can't even move being carried around for the rest of my life. I'd just be a bother to you." She nearly fell back, but I caught her, putting my arms around her shoulders to keep her sitting up.

"You'd never be a bother to me, Princess!" I said quickly, pausing when she didn't answer. I shook her lightly, seeing if she was still awake. She barely moved her eyes to look at me, her hand weakly wiping a tear from my face.

"I-I know I wouldn't b-be, my prince. Don't cry for me, just…smile."

"For you my princess, anything." I gave her the brightest smile I could muster as she drifted to sleep. I hugged her tightly, my ear against her chest, listening to her heart slow. I laid her back on the bed when her heart grew silent, leaving to get the doctor. I didn't let that smile fade, causing me to get in trouble at her funeral the next day. It only started to falter when they started to bury the urn that held her ashes. I kept my hand around the locket Lenia had given me, filled with some ashes I had snuck away. My brother put an arm around me, a sad tone in his voice.

"It's alright Herobrine, you'll see her again someday." He said quietly, making it even harder to keep the smile on my face as tears fell. I closed my eyes, teleporting away from him. It probably scared him, he didn't know I could do that. I reappeared in a forest and walked the familiar path that no mobs roamed, towards the flowers. Over the years, the foliage above the area had made this place darker and darker, making the flowers bloom even during the day at times. I walked past the bunches of flowers until I reached the large patch of them near the back of the clearing. I dug a small hole in the middle of the cluster, placing the locket in the ground. I made a quartz cross out of some materials I had stolen from the carpenter and put it in the ground right above where I placed the locket. Only then did the smile completely fall away.

 **-END OF THE SECOND FLASHBACK-**

"Herobrine? Brother? Are you alright?" My brother asked, waving his hand in front of my face, snapping me back into reality. That memory probably lasted a second, but it felt like hours. I looked around, finally realizing why I knew a path through this forest.

"I just remembered something…" I answered as I turned, running down the path. Everyone followed me, confused, but I didn't have time to explain. It would to just be easier to explain when they saw. It didn't take long until I came across the familiar dark canopy. I stopped running. The clearing was now not only patches of flowers, but it looked like a sea, tightly packed with them. I carefully walked through the knee-high plants, stopping when I came across the quartz cross, chipped from age. I fell to my knees before it. Mitch was the first to get to the clearing, followed soon after by everyone.

"Where are we?" My brother asked, reaching out to touch the old quartz.

"The same place I teleported to every year since my dear princess died…not counting the last thousand." I explained. "Heh, I probably wouldn't have remembered if you didn't bring her up." I felt horrible, even though I didn't realize it, I had broken my promise to her. "My princess never wanted me to forget about her or the magic she taught me; not only did I forget, but I also used that gift of hers as a weapon to kill." I glanced around at the sea of flowers. Usually, they were fragile, but the path we took through them didn't harm them in any way. "I would always bring her here, you know. I teleported this far on accident, and it became her favorite place to go. I stole some of her ashes to bury here because she asked me to." I looked back at her grave.

"You stole her ashes? Is that what you were doing?" Notch asked, and I nodded.

"She was my world; do you think I'd say no? She loved these flowers so much,"

"It nearly sounds like you loved her," Mitch said sadly, and I shrugged.

"I was only eight, so I don't know. Probably?" We sat there in silence until a bracelet around my brother's hand started to glow and beep. He grumbled under his breath. He stood, lifting his wrist up to his face, and pressed some sort of button.

"What?" He asked.

"King Notch! Finally! We could not figure this thing out. Where are you, you just disappeared!?" Someone sounded frantic on the other end.

"I had a little family reunion. I'll be right there." He pressed the button again, just as the confused voice of person started again. "I have to go, as he said, I kind of disappeared. The council is most definitely panicking." He held out one of his hands in front of him, summoning a necklace to fall onto it. He held it out to me. It was a golden necklace with a smooth quartz stone in the center. "This is enchanted. It allows me to detect where you are. If your magic or aura levels get too low, it'll alert me, and you can call for me as well. I made this as a prototype, as an attempt to prevent more casualties in the war, but if you accept it, I want you to keep this with you. I know you, you'll no doubt find your way to get into trouble, and frankly, I don't feel as much power coming from you as before." I nodded, accepting the gift.

"I'll keep this with me. I know you as well, and you'll probably teleport to me every five seconds if I didn't take it, to make sure I was alright." I joked with him, putting on the necklace. Brother said goodbye to everyone and left in a flash of light. I looked back at the quartz cross, before turning to return to my friends.

"Are you sure you want to leave now?" Sky asked, "If you want to wait longer, we'll wait with you." I shook my head, smiling.

"I'm fine. Besides, my princess wouldn't want me crying over her grave for too long. And I have to patch this up before I lose too much blood." I had nearly forgotten about my arm, which was dripping black blood onto the flowers. Before we left, I looked back at the patch of flowers, giving my princess' grave one last smile before turning to catch up with everyone.

 **Howdy! This is the rewritten chapter. I apologize for the** looooong **amount of time I've been absent. My laptop broke late last year. I had five rewritten chapter ready to be uploaded the next day, and I didn't think to back up any files. The** hardrive **of my laptop had what they called 'The Rattle of Death.' There was no saving what was on there. The reason why** It **been so long is** that I **thought what was rewritten was perfect, but of course, I couldn't remember what I wrote. So, after rewriting this chapter about ten more times, I'm going to upload it before I rewrite it again. I hope you all like the chapter and have a great day!**

 **ArashiKitsune, to answer your question, Yes, I am Krystal_Hamilton on Wattpad. It's my real name. I'm sorry for any confusion there may be. But thank you for telling me.**


	15. Old Friend New Enemy

Herobrines POV:

We entered yet another city a few hours after leaving the forest, though this time, it wasn't big enough to host games. I smiled, celebrating inwardly that I wouldn't be swept away by a crowd as we walked.

My arm was wrapped in a makeshift bandage, hidden under my jacket. Few people were outside, most watching me from afar, running away, or completely ignoring me. I felt a little nervous, not being hidden. Of course, it wasn't long until something went wrong. Deadlox suddenly stopped, turning quickly to look at a group that was forming behind us, just across the street. He cursed under his breath as he scanned the crowd.

"Someone just called the police."

"We have the power to stop them, right?" Ssundee asked, giving me a worried look.

"That old man didn't believe who we were since we're so far out, I'd doubt they would even recognize us." Sky sighed.

"You all should go on without me then. I don't want you all to get in trouble for traveling with me."

"If we do, you'll definitely get arrested."

"They actually can't hold me for long. My brother put up some sort of law that stated he was the only one who was able to confront me on legal matters, attacks that are started by anyone other than me, and/or capture. He did that to attempt to lessen casualties or people trying to be a vigilante." I explained. Unfortunately, this law never worked.

"I've never heard of that one. But, haven't we been fighting you for years?" Jason asked, "How come that was allowed?"

"Yes, you fought me, but you're an army that fights under direct orders from my brother; you've been exempted from that law." There was a faint sound of sirens in the distance. If they didn't want to be dragged into whatever mess comes of this, they had to go. I knew they'd be fine, but it could just make the inevitable jail visit longer if we had to explain everything. I took a step back away from all of them. "Just trust me on this. I'll catch up to you after I speak to them, I don't want you all to get in trouble too." Sky glanced in the direction of the sirens then back at me.

"Alright, we'll go. But don't take too long. Because we will look for you. Just, be careful Hero."

"I'll be fine. If it gets bad, I'll just teleport away."

And with that, they left. As soon as they were nearly out of sight, four police cars flew down the road parking beside the now larger group of people. They took a while to get here, considering it's been a few minutes since I started to hear the sirens. I decided not to waste time to wonder, they were probably stalling. I stayed where I was, putting my hands into my pockets. I didn't know exactly how to look less menacing with eyes like these. After a minute, three policemen got out of one vehicle, the others still in their own cars, attempting to hide below the windows. The tallest of the three looked like he would put up a fight, but his eyes were full of fear; he'd run if there was any major confrontation. The second guy was slightly shorter and was far too lanky to have any real muscle; he'd resort to guns over fists. The third…looked far too young to be in the far too large uniform and was the shortest. He didn't carry a gun or even a baton.

I waited to see what they would do. The tall one moved back, hiding behind the other two. They began to whisper amongst themselves rather loudly, most likely to debate on who was going to come speak with me. I had the feeling this was why the cars took so long to get here. They pushed the smallest guy forward. He stumbled, only taking a few steps before freezing. He was shaking and fighting back tears. I could teleport over to them, but that would cause more alarm. I walked across the street, stopping a few feet in front of the trio. I realized now, that from this close, the reason why there was a boy in a uniform. He had a badge on his chest that said, 'Student Intern'. He took a step back, trying to speak. While he stared at the ground, I narrowed my eyes at the other two. They looked completely ready to leave the boy behind. I crouched down in front of the kid, so he and I were eye-level. I closed my eyes.

"Does this help?" I asked, trying to give the boy an encouraging smile. He seemed confused, but still scared.

"H-He-Hero-brine?" The kid was finally able to choke out a word. "I-erm-I…" The kid started to cry, covering his face with his hands. I reached out my hand to touch his shoulder but pulled it back. Touching him would make this situation worse. I stood, opening my eyes again as I walked towards the other two.

"Tell me, how old is he?" I asked, crossing my arms, gesturing towards the boy.

"14…ish?" The lanky officer said, uncertainly. "He's an intern." That was obvious, did he think I couldn't read the badge?

"So, let me get this straight. You sent a kid into a situation that could kill him?" I asked, taking another step towards the officers. They backed off. "A kid!? You are adults, so what the heck? He doesn't even have a weapon, why would potentially sacrificing him be a good idea?" I nearly yelled at them. I could feel the surprised stares coming from the group around me.

"I-Interns aren't allowed to-" The tall one started. I walked up to him. I was shorter by over a foot, but it didn't intimidate me. I wasn't going to fight him. I resisted grabbing his shirt collar to bring him down to my level, that would be too violent, and that wasn't what I wanted to accomplish.

"Did you not hear me? I didn't ask for an excuse." I turned to look at the second officer. "Look I get it. I'm the bad guy. For the past thousand years, I've hurt, destroyed, and kill. But I-" I should have used my magic to look behind me. The tall one grabbed my bad arm, twisting it behind me. He used his foot to kick the back of my legs making me fall back. While keeping hold of my arm, he hit my chest with his other hand, and used that momentum to flip me face-first into the concrete. The kid let out a surprised squeak as my arm made a loud snap. The big guy backed off the second he let go, afraid that I'd fight back. Instead, I stayed there for a moment, as my arm moved back into place. When the break was healed, I sat up, seeing black blood on the cracked concrete. I put a hand to my forehead, feeling a gash. No doubt my nose was also bleeding. I looked at my arm, seeing blood seep from the ruined bandages. I looked back at the adult officers, as the murmurs of the crowd grew.

"That was a bit of overkill, wouldn't you agree? You could have easily shoved me to the ground with a tad less pizzazz." I stood, holding my hurt arm. "May I speak now? Or are you going to make the kid attack for you instead?" I didn't wait for an answer, wiping the blood from my face. "As I was saying, I am no longer a monster. I used to be human, whether you believe it or not. I'm not using this as an excuse for what I've done, but I was cursed. My heart, soul, and memories were stolen." I placed a hand over my near vacant chest, feeling the small thrum of my soul. "It broke my mind, and you know what happened next. So, if you think I'm going to attack you, you're wrong. But, I'm warning you now, I won't sit and take any more attacks from you. If you don't want anything, I'll be going." I began to walk past them when I felt someone grab my shoulder. It was the boy.

"We…we were told to bring y-you to the station. C-can you-uhm-come?" The boy asked. I looked back at the other two officers, giving them a cocky grin.

"Doesn't kill to ask, does it?"

Husky's POV:

Not long after we left Hero, we heard a cry for help. We ran to where the voice was, seeing a squid with a dagger strapped to its back slithering away. Something seemed off about it, so I stopped while the others went after it. I looked around, seeing a flash of bright blood-red hair disappear behind a store and into an alley. I followed as silently as I could as the person in front of me turned multiple corners. They wore a plain black shirt and pants. Even their boots were black. They stopped walking when they reached a chain-link fence.

"Husky Mudkips." The voice said as the mysterious person turned around, showing the same sand-brown eyes of who used to be my best friend. She had an unnaturally large smile on her face, but it didn't reach her eyes. "What a pleasure. I didn't expect to see you, my friend." She stated with a false happy tone in her voice as she started to circle around me, her eyes darting around to watch every move I made.

"What are you doing here Dell?" I asked, slowly moving so I could watch her.

"Well, I was tasked with killing a certain captain that was here, but it turns out he caught wind of my arrival and fled." She stated woefully. She stopped circling me, standing in front of me and flipping some hair out of her face. "But then I saw you with Team Crafted. I used an illusion potion to create that squid. I was meaning for you to see me. And since you're here, we can go! You're free now, no need to thank me." She grabbed my arm, trying to drag me to go with her. I stayed where I was.

"You are mistaken, Dell. I wasn't trapped."

"What?" Her grip loosened on my arm. "You were assigned to be a spy for them three years ago, and two years ago you completely stopped communicating. They have obviously been keeping you on some sort of leash. Of course, you need my help to save you from them." She said happily, believing in her own delusion.

"You're wrong. I realized the truth when I met them. What we were told growing up was all a lie. I've made up my mind, and I don't regret it. I'm done being a squids lap-dog." I didn't say assassin, even though that's what I technically was back then, though I hadn't killed anyone under their control. Dell laughed maniacally, putting both of her hands on my shoulders, her nails digging into my skin under the fabric of my shirt.

"Husky, my dear friend, snap out of it." She grabbed my hands, holding them close to her. "Stop this talk, you are one of us." The look on her face changed, her smile growing too wide as she grabbed my lower left arm in a tight grip, pulling up my sleeve to reveal the dragon tattoo I had.

"You're branded as one of us remember? You can't run from it. Oh, do you remember?!" She let go of me, her whole demeanor changing once again as she danced around for a moment, showing me her arm excitedly. "Remember? They accidentally gave us the same one?" She happily pointed to the tail of the dragon. The symbol was different for everyone, except for us. It was the same swirl pattern on the spiked tail. I slowly pulled down my sleeve, covering the tattoo, not moving any further.

"I don't want to remember. Now please, hear me out." I took a far too quick step forward, breaking the rule. Dell glared at me, grabbing her short knife from a pouch behind her back as she crouched. I had messed up; she had an internal program to hunt anything that moved quickly without her consent, and now, I'm her prey. If we were still young, I wouldn't be afraid of her abilities. She specialized in close range and couldn't get a hit on me when we sparred just three years ago, but that was the problem. I haven't seen her in a long time, she could have improved…or I could've gotten soft.

"I'm not going to listen to you. You've become brainwashed and defective, I have to fix that." She giggled at the last part. I grabbed a knife from the back of my boot, pointing it at her. She just gave me a bemused smirk.

"I'd rather be considered defective than being a slave to your fantasy." I didn't throw the knife. I didn't want to fight her. Her trigger was movement, and she knew what mine was. We circled each other for a moment, her eyes darting around as she walked, analyzing everything I was doing. She hated when something moved without her consent; she couldn't control the situation that way. Dell growled, jumping towards me. I ducked under her, hitting her in the abdomen with the handle of my knife, knocking her into a pile of wooden pallets, breaking them. She had a smile on her face, meaning she had something up her sleeve.

"Fantasy…fantasy? Why, if you're trying to call me crazy, you're just as crazy as I am, maybe more." She stated, holding the knife in a tight grip as she held her other arm out, pulling up the sleeve, her palm facing up. She moved the knife over her arm, just inches above her skin. "Let's make this a little more interesting. Do you remember Husky, our training that gave us our triggers? Something we can't fight against? To make us lose our minds during battles, wanting nothing more than to cause suffering to the thing that activated that trigger?" I shook my head, hoping she wouldn't do it. It was why I hated to fight, it was hard to hold back the smile I hated. I knew my friends have seen it a few times, but luckily, they've never asked about it. "No answer?" She asked, the blade inching closer to her arm. I tackled her, grabbing the knife out of her hand and throwing it out of reach. She laughed. "Oh, come on Husky, you were wanting to see my blood. I could see it in your eyes."

"You're wrong," I stated. She just laughed.

"Husky, Husky, Husky," She said in a scolding tone. "You've always been a terrible liar." She moved her arm, a glowing purple blade falling out of a compartment and into her hand. She held it up to my neck, making me back off slowly as she sat up. "How about…do you remember this stuff?" She asked excitedly, nearly pressing it into my neck. Why was she so excited to remember things from the past? "This made us all lose it if it gets into our system. Oh, do you remember all of the fights that broke out from this?" She sounded so happy, even though it was this stuff that made her this way. We had undergone what we called 'conditioning' to make us bend to the squids' will. This potion caused Dell to become a sadistic killer in under a week. I sighed, staying still, and wishing she would take the knife from my neck.

"I know you're holding yourself back." I tried, I had to find a way out of this situation. "You've gotten better at hiding it," I said, a false congratulatory tone in my voice. She used to be easily distracted, maybe she'll forget about the fight if I pretended to play her game.  
"O-Oh?" She moved the knife a few millimeters from my neck. "Why, thank you. I had to get this a little under control since everything moves." She seemed genuinely happy for a moment.

I glanced at the knife, I wasn't in any immediate danger. I slowly moved my hand behind my back while she gushed about herself, grabbing another dagger from my belt. I quickly moved, kicking her hand into the air, although she didn't let go of the knife. I jumped back before she could attack me. I wasn't surprised she didn't dodge the kick; her reaction time was slower than a normal person.

"You're a sneaky fish." Her smile changed into a scowl as she stood, taking a few steps back so she was beside the pile of broken wood. She raised her arm, swinging it down hard on the broken wood, cutting a large gash on the back of it. I froze up for a second, my focus automatically going towards the blood as it slowly seeped from her wound. "I'm done playing." She growled. She came at me with the knife, and I jumped to the side, stabbing her in the stomach, moving to the side to make a large gash across it. It wasn't a deep wound, she'd be fine. I didn't move away quick enough. She was able to stab me in the back with the knife as I slashed at her. Everything became blurry until I came back to my senses. I was on top of Dell, holding her down, my blood-stained knife raised high, about to stab her. She was covered in blood, and I had no scratch on me. I forced the smile off my face and stood, dropping the knife. Dell shakily sat up, a cocky grin on her face as she wiped the blood from her mouth.

"What's wrong? Lose yourself there for a moment?" She asked as she stood. I was breathing heavily, and the world was tilting, but at least I wasn't in any pain yet. That wouldn't happen for a few hours if I was lucky.

"Dell why did you-" She ran towards me, stabbing me in the shoulder with the same purple knife again. Things started to blur together again, but I was ready this time. I fought against it, kicking her away, and pulling the knife from my shoulder. Dell was starting to laugh again until she saw something behind me.

"Looks like we have company." She started to say, but I refused to look. If I saw anyone else, the effects of the potion that covered the knife would be harder to fight off. "Tata Husky have fun fighting off the potion." She took a blue potion from her belt, drinking it. She disappeared. A second later, I heard a footstep behind me. I covered my ears and closed my eyes.

"Don't come any closer!"

Herobrines POV:

The ride to the station was uneventful as they led me to some sort of room with a desk in the middle, four chairs around each end. There was a mirror to one side of the room, and it didn't take a genius to tell that they were watching me from beyond it. The walls were a pale grey that matched the floor. I ignored the chairs, walking to the far end of the room, away from the mirror. I used a spell to get rid of the blood that was on me. I sat against the wall, looking at the now clean bandages on my arm, I guess the spell affected it too. I untied the bandages, ignoring the pain. Looking at it, I couldn't really see the extent of the damage, since I had black blood, but it still looked bad. I sighed, rewrapping my arm. The door suddenly opened, revealing a young lady in a lab coat, holding a small white box.

"Hello?" She greeted nervously. She had dark skin and brown hair and was wearing a navy-blue turtleneck and jeans with matching boots under the coat. She carefully walked towards me, as though she was walking through a mine-field. She kneeled in front of where I sat, motioning towards my arm. "May-er-may look at that?" She asked, and I nodded, holding my arm out so she could see the damage. She removed the bandage, her eyes widening when she saw the gaping hole in my arm. "Oh dear, they said you had a bad wound on your arm, but this is very deep." She said, giving me a confused look. "Can I ask a question?"

"Sure," I answered. I knew what she was going to ask. She hesitated, beginning to clean the wound with a small cloth, becoming confused.

"How come it isn't healed already? I heard that you could heal quickly…and why is your blood black?" I shrugged.

"My own magic is tricky. In some cases, when I least expect it to hit me, it will hurt me, but usually, it doesn't. I don't die, I've tested it. It just makes it, so I heal at a slower pace. As for my blood, I have no clue. My brother is immortal too, but his blood is red." She gave me a confused look. "You'd know my brother as King Notch." I elaborated.

"Oh! He's your brother? That kind of explains how you two know each other. And thank you for sticking up for that intern earlier."

"How do you know about that?" She held up her phone for me to see. It was a video that played a scene of what happened earlier. I had to admit, I looked a bit scary when I yelled at the officers.

"This is all over the internet, and it's even on the news. Some are saying it's a hoax, and everyone is going crazy about it. Do you think your brother knows you've been arrested?" She asked as she put some sort of medicine on my arm.

"Probably not if he hasn't appeared yet. But why are you helping me?"

"I'm a nurse, it's my job to look after people who are injured. And look at this, that officer made it worse by grabbing your arm, it doesn't even look like a burn anymore, more like someone carved a chunk of flesh from your arm with a blunt cleaver." That's a brutal way to put it. "I wish I could stitch this up, but the gap is too wide." She took a roll of bandages from her box.

"If it's alright, I can bandage myself," I said, trying not to sound rude. I was taking up too much of this nice lady's time. I wasn't going to die from any infections, what if someone needed her?

"I'm sorry, but how you were wrapping it was too loose. I know you're immortal, and it'll still heal eventually, but it won't be quick if you don't take care of it." She stated as she started to wrap my arm tightly in fresh bandages. As soon as she was done, the door opened again.

"Are you done yet?" A man in a suit irritably asked. The lady sighed, glaring at back at the man.

"Yes, sir." She handed me some extra bandages, glaring once more at the man before leaving. I put back on my jacket as I stood. The man closed the door and sat at a desk, flipping through a thick folder. I stayed silent, he seemed to be the aggressive type, even though he was lanky. His eyes were a piercing blue, demanding respect. His build was weak but that didn't mean that he didn't have the power to fight.

"So, what kind of spell was that?" He asked, not even looking at me as he scanned the files.

"I don't know what you mean?"

"Your arm." He stated, glancing at me for a second. I guess he wasn't listening to my talk with the nurse.

"I was fighting with my brother, your king-not the type of fighting your thinking of!" I quickly corrected myself. The man just turned a page in the file. "It just happened earlier. He didn't believe me when I tried to explain myself. I-"

"I'm not asking for a story, I want a clear answer." The man stated.

"Well…I accidentally got myself hit with my fire."

The man nodded, writing something on a piece of paper.

"I thought fire didn't harm you?" He asked.

"It usually doesn't. Sometimes, my own fire will hurt me if unexpected, but not often." He didn't seem to be paying attention, but he was quickly writing with a pen. He set the pen down, resting his hands on the desk in front of him as he glared at me.

"Now, where were you last night?"

"With Team Crafted," I answered. "Why?"

"A girl was attacked last night. We have reason to suspect you did it."

"I guess you would have plenty of reason. What happened?" I asked. I don't know what I said, but the man became angry.

"She's only ten, why did you attack her!?" He slammed his hands on the table, standing up quickly, making his chair fall over. I took a step back in surprise. I held my hands in front of me in a defensive manner.

"I didn't attack anyone." I tried to say calmly.

"Oh yeah? And you expect me to believe that Team Crafted is here in this city? Do you really think I'd buy the story that they'd actually let you tag along?" Maybe they should have come with me.

"Maybe I do because it's the truth. I understand how hard it is to believe me, but this is getting really repetitive." I turned away from him, ready to teleport. "Now if you'll excuse me, I promised to meet up with them."

"Hey!" I turned around to tell him that I didn't have time for this fight but stopped. He had tears in his eyes that he was trying to hold back. I knew then, he knew that girl that was attacked. I walked over to him.

"Alright, tell me. Is this girl still alive?" He nodded.

"S-She hasn't woken up, and the doctors are saying she's brain-dead due to her injuries, but we don't know. We…We thought it was you because her ability to respawn was stolen." He picked up his chair, sitting in it. He wiped his eyes with a handkerchief. "We're trying to keep her alive until a strong sorcerer can get her to restore her ability to respawn, but he won't be here until tomorrow, and her condition is getting worse." I wanted to help him, but I made a promise…heck, this was more important.

"Is there any way I can help?" I asked. "I only know how to take away respawn, not restore it. But I can try to heal her. My magic wasn't made for it, because it'll drain too quickly, but maybe since I have some aura, it'll help buy time?"

Husky's POV:

"Don't come any closer!" I yelled, hoping whoever was behind me would listen.

"Why?" It was Jason. I shook my head, fighting back a sudden pain through my skull.

"Please don't let me see you. I-The potion that was on the knife…I won't be able to hold back from hurting you."

"Then you can explain from there, we saw the whole thing. Were you really sent to spy on us?" Sky asked, his voice was unreadable. I guess they were all there. How much did they see?

"Yes."

"Did the first few years mean anything to you? Did any of it!?" Jason nearly yelled, his voice shaking with both anger and sadness. I turned to face them, keeping my eyes closed.

"No, it did, all of it! I never wanted to hurt you guys. I always lied to the squids, and I stopped communicating completely when I realized that what we were taught growing up was all wrong. The way I was raised, the way I interacted with people, everything! I wanted to tell you guys, but I felt so ashamed of it." I pulled on the sleeve that had the tattoo. "I don't know what Jerome went through, but he has nightmares about what happened to him. I never had any. I used to look back on those memories with fondness. Everything they did to mess me up hasn't messed with me as much as it should I-Argh!" I stumbled forward, and someone caught me.

"Are you okay? The first time she stabbed you, you weren't in pain." Jason asked he was the one who caught me. I opened my eyes slowly, looking around.

"I'm fine. When you don't attack anything, and the first stage wears off, you feel pain a little early." I explained. In a few hours, stage two will begin. I will be engulfed in pain, and I'll most likely attack anything that had our trigger. And if no trigger was found, I'd probably make one appear.

"Conditioning." Jerome basically gasped the words, his eyes wide in realization. He grabbed me and picked me up. "The less you move, the longer we have until the breakdown."

"You know the name of stage two?" The sad look in his eyes made me realize, he went through what I did. That was what his nightmares were about. That's why he lashed out!

"Yes. We have to find Hero now and get as far away from the city as we can. The fewer people, the less chance of him attacking." He explained, albeit cryptically. Mitch agreed with Jerome.

"Right. From what we saw, your trigger is blood, right?" He asked, and I nodded.

"What is going on?" Ssundee asked.

"We'll tell you when we get a safe distance from the city. Trust me."

Herobrines POV:

I was standing outside of a hospital room, leaning against the wall beside the closed door. The interrogator man was inside, talking to the parents. Apparently, the girls' father was the man's brother. The door opened, revealing a man with one eye, the other was a dull grey, surrounded by a spiral-shaped scar. He glared at me for a moment before stepping aside. I heard him mumbling something about me looking too young to be a monster. I entered the room, stopping in front of the bed. The girl was so small compared to it. She had a breathing tube that was helping her breathe, and wires hooked up to her. The heart monitor was beeping slowly. I couldn't see her condition from all the bandages, but the burns on her face were visible. Why were they not covered?

"Please help my daughter." A woman who sat on the right side of the bed pleaded.

"I'll do my best," I said, and the glare from the one-eyed man lessened.

"How can you save my baby?" He asked. I put a hand over her slowly moving chest, activating my magic.

"I'm going to-huh?" There was something wrong. I wanted to check to see if she really had not respawned, but I couldn't get to her soul. It was there, I could feel it with my magic, but it was blocked. "Oh?"

"What is it?" The Interrogator asked, panicked.

"It appears that the respawn wasn't stolen. It's being blocked."

"What do you mean? The doctors didn't mention that?"

"They probably didn't know, since they aren't powerful enough to mess with the ability anyways." I didn't know what to do, I didn't know how to fix this. But, I said I would help, I didn't want to let them down. I looked at her scarred face. If she did retain the ability to respawn, she'd keep the scars. It was a problem that caused people to still be careful. If a person were to get a bad enough scar or lost a limb, that would remain when they respawned.

"Do you have enough magic to help?" The woman asked. That stirred a memory, though it wasn't clear enough. Something about…being lost in a cave and using up all of my magic so my brother could find me…oh!

"I probably don't have enough magic to attempt to fix the block. But, I can try to get my brother." I put my hand around the quartz necklace. He didn't tell me how to call him using it, so I'd have to just use up magic until he came. "You know him as King Notch. I kind of remember being lost, and he found me when I was low on magic. I guess he could always sense if I was in danger." I put both hands over the girls' chest, activating my magic. "If I use enough, my brother will show up, and we can ask him to help."

Jason's POV:

I flew with my jetpack, keeping my eyes on the ground, searching for Hero. I could see things that are far away with great detail, but I couldn't see Hero anywhere. Ssundee spoke through the transceiver on my helmet.

"I think I found him. Someone said he went to the hospital to try and save a girl that was nearly burnt to death."

"Dell did that, I'm sure of it." Husky said. He sounded tired and in pain. Jerome was with him in the alley, to keep him still. I landed beside the hospital, meeting everyone there. We entered quickly, the person at the desk giving us a confused look.

"Do you have an emerg-" Sky interrupted her.

"Sorry miss, but we need to know which room Herobrine went into." The lady just shook her head.

"Sir, I can't just give out information like that." She started to say until there was a yell that came from a room down the hall. We ran to the door, and Ssundee opened it. A man in a suit and a man with a scar over one eye were kneeling beside Hero, who was on the ground, shaking. There was a small girl in the hospital bed, who didn't look like they were a fire victim. Did Hero heal her?

"Hero?" Mitch asked first. Hero sat up, looking around with a confused look on his face. His eyes were dull, nearly black.

"Ugh, what?" He mumbled. He was hugged by the man with the scar.

"Thank you for helping my baby girl." Hero seemed surprised from the hug, but before anything could be said, there was a flash of light as Notch appeared. He saw Hero and rushed towards him.

"Brother!? I just gave you that necklace only a few hours ago and you're already pushing it!" Hero mumbled something, and Notch glanced at the bed where the child was sleeping, his aura activating for a moment. He paused, his magic concentrating over her chest.

"A block? Why didn't you just call for me Herobrine, your magic isn't made for this." Hero tried to stand, but he fell again.

"C-Can you fix it?" He asked. Notch sighed.

"It's already taken care of. Now, you need rest, you used too much magic healing her."

"It's okay. I feel fine." Hero started to say but nearly fell again. Notch caught him.

"You aren't fine."

"I am, I just…why am I seeing multiple of you?"

"Sleep, brother," Notch said, placing a hand over Hero's forehead, using his magic to make him sleep. "He shouldn't wake for a while. I know he's been traveling with you all but look." He held up one of Hero's hands. It had burns. "His magic is in a dangerous mode. He used too much and its begun to feed off him. It's going to be out of control until it recharges completely. You guys should continue on without him, I'll watch over him."

"Notch, this is more than just babysitting your little brother." Sky stated. "I feel like he's a part of our team. And heck, he's our friend, we can't just leave him behind."

"And we've already found a part of his soul, it could be connected to this mission." I added.

"Not to mention, Derp would be in serious trouble if it wasn't for him," Ssundee said. Notch sighed in defeat.

"In the three years since you've formed Team Crafted, this is the first time you've gone against what I suggest. I am truly proud of how you all have matured so quickly."

-One Hour Later-

Sky's POV:

We were far enough to barely see the light of the city as the sunset. We stopped for the night when Husky started to feel pain. Right now, he was leaning against a tree. He had an arm over his eyes, taking large gulps of air

"So…what exactly is about to happen?" I asked Jerome, who had laid Hero against a different tree.

"Well, he's going to be in extreme pain if he isn't already. Considering he was stabbed twice, I'm not sure if he's going to lash out or not. He may end up being in too much pain to do that. Ssundee, do you know any shield spells?"

"I know how to make a weaker one, but I can't make it disappear, and it doesn't last long anyway." Jason gave a sad sigh, sitting beside Husky, and patting his shoulder.

"Are you still with us, buddy?" Husky moved his arm away from his eyes. His iris' had magenta swirls in them.

"Y-Yes. I-I'm still he-he-re." He managed to say, before covering his eyes again. "I-I'll tell you if-if anything ch-changes."

"I feel sorry for you Husky, having to deal with this sort of thing growing up. You developed some sort of Stockholm syndrome, right?" Jerome asked. Husky didn't speak, but he did nod. "I wasn't in one of those places long enough for that to happen; I got out when I was still a kid."

"What happened?" Deadlox asked.

"I grew up in a different place than Husky did. The one I was stuck in didn't use tattoos to distinguish who was who. They used the dark."

"How?" I asked, curious.

"You know how my eyes seem to glow red in the dark, so I can see?" He started. "Well, for each age group, you were given a different color. Reds were the new kids, yellow was after conditioning was done, and it went all the way up to green. But one thing that was like where Husky grew up, we were given what we called 'triggers.' These triggers will make the person with it want nothing more than to attack it. Husky's trigger is seeing blood, which explains that smile he gets when he fights. I didn't successfully get a trigger though, but they tried." Jerome said, looking at the ground. "Mine was the scent of fear in humans. I kept getting in trouble because I would attack a squid, thinking the fear I smelled was the same kind I had to hunt. But one day, there was a boy instead of a prisoner they had caught. They said I had to have some diversity in my training. But, I didn't smell fear from him." He glanced at Mitch, who smiled.

"Yup. I was at first when they kidnapped me, but then I saw Jerome. Literally, the only thing I thought was, 'is he a puppy?'" Mitch chuckled.

"Seeing a human that didn't smell like fear woke me up to what was happening. I only knew how to speak one language at the time, even though I understood English. So, I asked him who he was in my home language."

"I knew then that he wasn't any sort of puppy." Mitch stated. "I understood the language because my parents spoke it a lot. They told me they learned it from a group of Bacca's. So, I was able to tell him my name and that I was kidnapped."

"I didn't understand the word, but I wanted to help him. I fought to get him out. The squids were afraid of me; they knew what I could do to them. We got out, and I couldn't believe it at first. I never would have thought the world outside that grey facility was so bright." He glanced at the sunset. "So, to sum it up…the nightmares I have are memories of the thing that's infecting Husky right now. It's why I lash out." He took a shaky breath, saying something in his home language.

"I know Jerome," Mitch said, putting an arm around him, and covering his ears for him. Before we could ask why he did that, Husky screamed out in pain, clutching his chest.

 **Howdy! Sorry, it took so long again. I keep second guessing if the changes I make are good. I thought a few things from the first chapter didn't really seem to be that well explained. I don't think I gave Dell a trigger like Husky had in the first story, which doesn't really make sense when Husky said everyone had one. I hope the changes are good ones and have a great day!**


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